New President, New Lie: Newsday (a must read) Delay quote

[jbfam4]

New President, New Lie
Paul Vitello http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/columnists/ny-livit0201,0,3225429.column?coll=ny-linews-featured





January 31, 2004, 7:17 PM EST

Who can forget the virtual earthquake in Washington -- the culture war, the shaking of our civil foundations, the End Time raptures of Pat Robertson and Tom DeLay -- over the Monica Lewinsky lie?


They did so, they said, not just because he had committed adultery but because he had lied about it to the people and because presidential lying represented a kind of cancer that threatened the moral health of the nation. The idea was that if a president lied, everything might start to unravel in concentric circles of Evil. They invoked Biblical absolutes and near-absolutes such as the sanctity of truth, the rule of law, the responsibilities of power.

DeLay, then-House Republican whip, said that unless President Clinton was impeached for lying, somewhere someday a mother would "lose custody of her baby in court because a father lies," and professors would sell good grades for cash, and brave men would die due to lies in the military, and businesses would collapse from "a cancer" of lying throughout the land. You can look this up in the congressional record. DeLay may even have had a point.

But I bring this up not to remind you of that sad episode in the country's moral life, and in the marriage of the Clintons. I mention it only to ask -- honestly, because I am as curious as any other increasingly anti-war American with grave doubts about the truthfulness of my government in its pursuit of foreign (and domestic) policies -- why there was no earthquake in Washington this week when it emerged that President George W. Bush may have launched an entire war on the basis of a lie?

There was no earthquake, no Bible thumping, no Pat Robertson or Tom DeLay. There were some high-end campaign speeches by the Democrats. The president went to New Hampshire not to campaign for president. (That's what he said.) And that is the up-to-the-minute report on the state of the national moral umbrage.

[NegSpin]

1. Well...

Well, of course you probably know the answer, that Pat Robertson and Tom DeLay are simply partisan hacks who don't really care about lying. If Clinton had been a Republican, they would've never noticed.

It's amazing though how huge the lies are with Bush, all the way through his mis-administration, and, as you say, the Republicans who saw the end of Western Civilization with Clinton are so very quiet about Bush. They're traitors and scoundrels of the worst sort.

I will quibble with one of your phrases: "this week when it emerged that President George W. Bush may have launched an entire war on the basis of a lie?" There's no "may have launched an entire war on the basis of a lie." He DID launch an entire war on the basis of lies.

[Old and In the Way]

5. Welcome on board NegSpin.

The Republican Corporate Party sold their soul a long time ago. The may be richest political organization that ever existed in terms of cash/fundraising, but they are totally bankrupt in principles, ethics, and morals. Their extreme lack of integrity and decency never ceases to amaze me.

I'm looking forward to the day that this Party is buried in their own dirt and irrevocably repudiated by the citizens for their anti-American actions and deeds.

[BeatleBoot]

2. Hypocrisy

House of Reps = Republican

Senate = Republican

White House = Republican

Supreme Court = Republican

If you are a Republican, then lying about war is okay, but don't you dare lie about sex because that's grounds for impeachment.

[jbfam4]

3. You are right

but the Delay quote is a mastercard moment.......priceless.

Who will repeat Delays words and hold him accountable?

[Pegleg Thd]

4. Clinton"s only mistake

was getting caught at what robertson, falwell, and de lay have been doing as well.