My wife is now moving towards 'neutral' on *

[Sam Odom]

She told me over dinner tonight. She said the Valerie Plame "witch hunt" (her words) into * "pissed her off" (again, her words) I'm wondering how this is affecting other 'middle of the road' females?

[pooja]

1. My husband was just starting to think... then he started saying see

look what Bush is doing for the gas prices... se he's taking care of us. I actually told him that 2.50 isn't exactly "cheap"... but then he said "well you can't expect everything to stay the same price every year with inflation and all"... then I asked him, if that's true, why are those big t.v.'s he drools over dropping their price, why haven't I had a raise in a yr in 1/2. why is he only receiving a standard 3% raise every year. Why are we working 60hr weeks to make pay for a 2 bedroom apt. with a drunk above us (who stomps all over the house all night and all day long, and a new strange one downstairs... my husband thinks they are on heavy drugs.) And supposedly I live in the good part of town.

[leesa]

2. Wow. Lots of brilliant spouses around. Obviously your wife has no

concept of the significance of Valerie Plame and the outing of an undercover operative tracking WMDs during time of war. This person is not 'middle of the road' in anyones book...koolaid swilling, maybe...

[Sam Odom]

3. leesa

Not everyone (most aren't) DUers. The way the press presented the latest on 'Plamegate' appears to give bushco a pass and to some that he was persecuted.

[Stargazer99]

4. The sheeple are just too damn stupid to put two and two

together....they let Bushco do the thinking for them.

[gratuitous]

9. That's why it's important to keep communicating

If we're not talking to "the sheeple," who is? And if we're not supplying them with information (and it doesn't have to be a ton of stuff, just a few bricks here and there), who's telling them how to view events?

The good news is that once you begin effecting that change in someone's outlook, it's very difficult for them to go back to the perception they had. Odom's wife moving to "neutral" on President Simpleton is the long, difficult part of the journey. She's less likely to think up excuses for him when he fucks up (and we know for a fact his next fuck-up is just a live microphone away) and more likely to see his fuck-up as a fuck-up. And when someone starts seeing Simpleton that way, pretty soon they're bringing you news of his latest fuck-up instead of vice versa.

[noamnety]

5. Bush is hardly being persecuted

Perhaps you could explain to your wife that Bush made a decision to appoint Armitage as Deputy Secretary of State - a former Vietnam-era covert operative and Contra-era figure, who was previously investigated by President Reagan's Commission on Organized Crime (1984) for alleged links to gambling and prostitution, and was denied a 1989 appointment as Assistant Secretary of State because of links to Iran-Contra and other scandals.

As someone who's worked in intelligence, I'd like to draw your attention here to the fact that Armitage himself was a covert operative. What are the odds he accidentally mentioned someone else's covert status due to his gossipy nature, without realizing the impact? Twice?

Guess what happens when you appoint organized crime dudes with a history of corruption to key positions in the administration? It's not the sort of appointment you make because you believe in happy rainbows and unicorns and think the person's likely rehabilitated themself and you want to help them turn over a new leaf. When you appoint people with a history of corruption to those sorts of offices, it's because you plan on engaging in a bit of corruption yourself.

[Toots]

6. Yes it is okay to disclose confidential material (secrets) if it is done

in an off hand manner I guess. As long as they say there was no malice intended it is just fine to disclose government secrets. Is that the message your wife is getting and is comfortable with? The Bush* Adminstration should not be held accountable because they now say they did it but not to be mean... Remember the State Dept is part of the Administration. Armitage is an important member of PNAC and not a stupid person. He told several reporters in an "Off hand" sort of way government secrets. What would happen to your wife if she did that?

[sendero]

7. You mean..

... if it is characterized as being done in an offhand manner and folks with brains the size of peas buy that.

[seabeyond]

8. i said you republicans to husband last night about something

my husband got a huge smile and said, you cant say that to me anymore. i am not a republican anymore. i voted for kerry in 2004. like that won the argument, wink.

not all spouses. some opened their eyes