Krugman: Lifting the Shroud (Risk to people exposing Bush)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/23/opinion/23KRUG.html?hp

From the day it took office, U.S. News & World Report wrote a few months ago, the Bush administration "dropped a shroud of secrecy" over the federal government. After 9/11, the administration's secretiveness knew no limits — Americans, Ari Fleischer ominously warned, "need to watch what they say, watch what they do." Patriotic citizens were supposed to accept the administration's version of events, not ask awkward questions.

But something remarkable has been happening lately: more and more insiders are finding the courage to reveal the truth on issues ranging from mercury pollution — yes, Virginia, polluters do write the regulations these days, and never mind the science — to the war on terror.

It's important, when you read the inevitable attempts to impugn the character of the latest whistle-blower, to realize just how risky it is to reveal awkward truths about the Bush administration. When Gen. Eric Shinseki told Congress that postwar Iraq would require a large occupation force, that was the end of his military career. When Ambassador Joseph Wilson IV revealed that the 2003 State of the Union speech contained information known to be false, someone in the White House destroyed his wife's career by revealing that she was a C.I.A. operative. And we now know that Richard Foster, the Medicare system's chief actuary, was threatened with dismissal if he revealed to Congress the likely cost of the administration's prescription drug plan.

<snip>

On "60 Minutes" on Sunday, Mr. Clarke said the previously unsayable: that Mr. Bush, the self-proclaimed "war president," had "done a terrible job on the war against terrorism." After a few hours of shocked silence, the character assassination began. He "may have had a grudge to bear since he probably wanted a more prominent position," declared Dick Cheney, who also says that Mr. Clarke was "out of the loop." (What loop? Before 9/11, Mr. Clarke was the administration's top official on counterterrorism.) It's "more about politics and a book promotion than about policy," Scott McClellan said.

[proud patriot]

1. Wow Great read

:D

[yardwork]

2. Great piece! Let's write and thank him.

[scarletwoman]

7. Excellent suggestion!

Just sent him a "thank you" note!

sw

[scarletwoman]

3. BLESS Paul Krugman!

Bravo for him, for getting right on this!

Excellent finish:

And given the Bush administration's penchant for punishing its critics, he must have known that he was taking a huge personal risk.

So why did he write it? How about this: Maybe he just wanted the public to know the truth.

Yay Krugman! :bounce:

sw

[Dudley_DUright]

6. TRUTH - A motive totally foreign to the Bush minions

which is why they are struggling so much to try and discredit Clarke and are only ending up contradicting themselves. Hadley's BS denial on 60 minutes was a perfect example.

[WatchWhatISay]

4. aka

Drip...Drip...Drip

[minkyboodle]

5. Kick

Krugman is the king!!

[dw]

8. Consider what's inside the parentheses.

He "may have had a grudge to bear since he probably wanted a more prominent position," declared Dick Cheney, who also says that Mr. Clarke was "out of the loop." (What loop? Before 9/11, Mr. Clarke was the administration's top official on counterterrorism.)

It was Cheney's loop: PNAC true believers and oil company executives. Nobody else. Not even Bush. Certainly not Clarke. And not Paul O'Neill.

That loop was so small and so tight, investigators still can't break into it three years later.

But it's slowly becoming a noose. It's going to be an interesting summer as more and more of the truth slips through the knot.

[Leilani]

9. I Love Krugman!

I have written him countless times to thank him for telling what no one else has the guts to do.

Bush & Co have also smeared him; saw him discuss it on Tim Russert about a month ago.

[The Zanti Regent]

10. THANK YOU, PAUL K!

Thank you for telling the truth!

[grannylib]

11. If Clarke WAS out of the loop, even more damning...WHY??? Should he

NOT have been in the loop, if the Bushistas were serious about fighting terrorism??
They're toast either way.

[Skittles]

17. they HAVE to say he was 'out of the loop"

Clarke is claiming Bush didn't do a f***ing thing about Al Quada but the Bush machine is claiming they were very agressive about Al Quada. The ONLY reponse from the White House is to say Clarke simply didn't KNOW about all the wonderful things Bush Inc did - because he (Clarke) was "out of the loop". Yes it's flimsy and an obviousl lie but they are boxed in; it's the ONLY defense they have.

[Manix]

12. Paul, you dah man!

[Disturbed]

13. Truth

"Truth to Rethugs is like sunlight to vampires." PF

[enough]

14. kick

Another great one from Paul Krugman.

[Jack Rabbit]

15. I feel sorry for Clarke right now

Of course, Bush officials have to attack Mr. Clarke's character because there is plenty of independent evidence confirming the thrust of his charges.

There is a saying among trial lawyers: When the facts are against you, pound on the law; when the law is against you, pound on the facts; when the facts and the law are against you, pound on the table.

The Bushies are pounding on the table.

If Clarke has a skeleton in his closet, it will soon come out. Even if he doesn't, it will soon come out.

We can expect to hear an awful lot of ugly things about Clarke in the coming weeks. Some of it might even turn out to be true, but none of it will have anything to do with the charges he has made against the junta.

Those charges stick.

[PATRICK]

16. Ellsberg had the connection

He knew personally what it was like to be killing and being killed for policies he had no hope of changing or questioning. Then suddenly he had the opportunity and it was harder than taking a bullet somehow to speak up. Sure, a bureaucrat risks his career and more, but think of the mangled bodies of the victims of braver men and women who could nothing to attack the real evil. The salary, the fame, the rep. A responsibility goes with that too, supposedly a higher one. It's part of the job on behalf of America and one's own integrity. it is the type of honor the real America expects even if it receives no public recognition.

It's good to see some can make the right decision. it is a small circle indeed but it matches the equally small circle of the truly decadent radicals hijacking America at the Bush core.

[teryang]

18. Out of the LIHOP loop

Clarke was out of the loop alright. While one part of the government was trying to stop terrorism another part was empowering it.

[radfringe]

21. given Clark's experience with terrorism

and dispite that his position was downgraded...

why would he have been kept "out of the loop"

seems to me that if you are really taking terrorism seriously that you would want someone with Clark's knowledge and experience to be actively in the loop

[Mountainman]

19. All the Repubs have going for them is character assignation

You listen to the talk shows and all they do 24/7 is do character assassination on Kerry and anyone who dares talk against Bush.

I think the people will get tired of it soon. They have to come out with something positive about Bush but they have nothing but lies to tell.

[boobooday]

20. Krugman has never wavered

He's been a rock. And he rocks.

To Paul: :yourock:

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[RainDog]

22. speaking of those pollutors writing the laws...

when these evil-doers are brought down, too bad they can't be sentenced to stew in their own juices, so to speak.

let their food be laced with mercury, lead, pesticides...just a thank you from all the parents of the United States...

[Paradise]

23. Like I keep asking...

What happened to, and where is, Paul O'Neill? His silence, these days, is deafening!