Oliphant: Woe to whistleblowers

[paineinthearse]

Excerpt: "The abuse of Wood and Greenhouse was particularly ugly. In the former case, top FDA officials were following a time-dishonored cover-up ritual -- do a dirty deed on a Friday afternoon when it is least likely to get extensive news coverage, but do a really dirty deed when much bigger news is likely to provide weekend cover..."

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/09/08/woe_to_whistleblowers/

THOMAS OLIPHANT
Woe to whistleblowers
By Thomas Oliphant | September 8, 2005

WASHINGTON
SUSAN WOOD and Bunnatine Greenhouse, senior government officials, had nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina or the government's disgraceful, tardy response to its horrid aftermath. But just as civic collapse produces price gougers and looters, these gutsy women are examples of what can go on when the nation's attention is diverted by catastrophe: Bad people behave really badly, taking cowardly cover behind the explosion of other news.

Just as Katrina was being upgraded to a dangerous hurricane headed straight at the Gulf Coast, Dr. Wood's political bosses at the Food and Drug Administration decided to circumvent procedure and probably law to block approval of over-the-counter sales of the birth control medicine known as the morning-after pill. Their circumvention of process made the position of the widely respected public health official untenable and, in an act of commendable integrity, she resigned last week.

And just as Katrina was bearing down on the coast on that fateful Sunday, Greenhouse's bosses at the Army Corps of Engineers, with Donald Rumsfeld ultimately responsible, demoted her for following procedure strictly and raising detailed objections to contracts awarded more than two years ago under shady circumstances to a subsidiary of Halliburton Co. The obvious, underhanded retaliation against Greenhouse occurred even as the Corps's inspector general, together with officials from the Justice Department, was continuing an investigation into the contracts based on the information supplied by the very same Greenhouse.

As the aftermath of Katrina unfolds, President Bush's habit of not only avoiding responsibility but also attacking other government officials who tell the truth or object to irregularities is worth keeping in mind. The habit was formed early. Indeed, the first victim was none other than Mike Parker, a former Mississippi congressman who was abruptly fired from his senior position in the Army Corps after he had the guts to object in public to cutbacks in, of all things, flood control projects in his native region.

more.....

[dsc]

1. Everytime I see a column like this from

people who work for the Post or Globe or the NYT I can't help but think of the lies these papers told about Gore and Kerry which helped Bush get where he is. All I am left to think is too little too late.

[paineinthearse]

2. Don't generalize

Tom Oliphant has been consistantly true to his and our core beliefs.

[dsc]

3. Here is one example, and there are several,

of Oliphant lying about Gore.

OLIPHANT: Of all the things that Gore has done or things that have not gone well for him this year, I think this is the biggest embarrassment of all by a country mile, to spend that amount. He spent almost a million dollars more than Governor Bush did, which, I think, says it all, including really preposterous amounts arranging some of his fund-raisers. I mean, George Bush can get $1000 from a guy for a glass of ice water and a handshake. Gore is, you know, arranging dinners with dishes I've never heard of.
Had Gore really wasted money on foolish expenses? Or had he invested in computers and staff? Here at THE HOWLER, we aren't sure, but Oliphant didn't seem to know either. Check the logic: the fact that Bush can get donations without any effort doesn't mean that Gore can do the same, and Oliphant gave no specific examples of the wasteful spending he attributes to Gore. Indeed, Connolly and Glasser included a paragraph on Saturday that helped put Gore's campaign spending in perspective. Was Gore's percentage-spent a remarkable figure? Apparently not--four years earlier, Sens. Dole and Gramm had spent a higher percentage in the GOP race (see postscript). By all measures, the outlier here--the single outlier--was Bush's phenomenal fund-raising success. There was nothing unusual about the Gore figures, given recent past history.

Yep. There had been one important story here--Bush raised unprecedented sums. But the Post had decided it would go out and gimmick a second thrilling story. Through misleading anecdotes and unending spin--and by failing to report the basic data--the Post ginned up a second story. And twelve hours after the Post hit the stands, other pundits were reading it back.



Here is an example of him spinning for the GOP on Monica.


Caveat lector

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

15 February 1999
Smile-a-while (part I): Forever spun


Only senators had seen the Monica tapes, but Tom Oliphant knew what was coming:
OLIPHANT (Thursday, 2/4): The canard about a 21-year-old intern may never have been true, but this is a young woman. The sordid nature of this relationship can at least be inferred by anyone, I’m told, who sees this videotape.

He’s “told” this fact? “Told” by whom? The same people who “told” him that President Clinton would blow his stack on the grand jury tapes? One thing about this celebrity press corps: they never get tired of being spun. Nothing’s more fun than having an interested party whisper some self-serving view in your ear, then rushing off to the nearest studio and repeating it, for rapt waiting minions. The problem here, as we all would soon see, was that Mo didn’t seem very young at all. She seemed more like a middle-aged harpy, pushing around poor Ed Bryant.

But no one knew this on Thursday night, as we awaited the Saturday showing. Although it shouldn’t have been that hard to discern a hint of spin in the air. GOP senators made it a point to say how young Miss Mo seemed on the tape, when they emerged from Senate screening rooms after previewing her video testimony.

http://www.dailyhowler.com/h021599_1.shtml

Is he the worst, by no means? But he helped install that asshole in office and all I can say is too little too late.

[paineinthearse]

4. I need to reconsider my position, thanks nt

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5. no problem

It is a sad fact that virtually no liberal with tv presence didn't trash Gore and to a lesser extent Kerry. The only ones who were consistant in not doing that were people like Ivins and Conanson both of whom are rarely on TV.

[WhiteTara]

6. Every time I read Maureen Dowd, I think that she

is partly responsible with her hateful articles about Gore. Yep, that is one reason why I adore Molly Ivins. Also, Arianna Huffington. Not only did she turn against the rw, she has taken strong stands.