Krugman on character assassination and abuse of power

[DeepModem Mom]

OP-ED COLUMNIST
This Isn't America
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: March 30, 2004


....the administration responded to Mr. Clarke the way it responds to anyone who reveals inconvenient facts: with a campaign of character assassination.

Some journalists seem, finally, to have caught on. Last week an Associated Press news analysis noted that such personal attacks were "standard operating procedure" for this administration and cited "a behind-the-scenes campaign to discredit Richard Foster," the Medicare actuary who revealed how the administration had deceived Congress about the cost of its prescription drug bill.

But other journalists apparently remain ready to be used. On CNN, Wolf Blitzer told his viewers that unnamed officials were saying that Mr. Clarke "wants to make a few bucks, and that his own personal life, they're also suggesting that there are some weird aspects in his life as well."

This administration's reliance on smear tactics is unprecedented in modern U.S. politics — even compared with Nixon's. Even more disturbing is its readiness to abuse power — to use its control of the government to intimidate potential critics....

***

Where will it end? In his new book, "Worse Than Watergate," John Dean, of Watergate fame, says, "I've been watching all the elements fall into place for two possible political catastrophes, one that will take the air out of the Bush-Cheney balloon and the other, far more disquieting, that will take the air out of democracy."


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/30/opinion/30KRUG.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. And Krugman is right as well as Dean

I suspect in the end we will be able to win, but just barely

[skeptic9]

2. Krugman highlights a crucial fact about exactly HOW the Iraq adventure...

... hurt counterterrorism after 9-11:

'... new evidence keeps emerging for Mr. Clarke's main charge, that the Iraq obsession undermined the pursuit of Al Qaeda. From yesterday's USA Today: "In 2002, troops from the Fifth Special Forces Group who specialize in the Middle East were pulled out of the hunt for Osama bin Laden to prepare for their next assignment: Iraq. Their replacements were troops with expertise in Spanish cultures."'

If memory serves me correctly, David Kay said recently that there were only about 100 fluent Arabic speakers in the entire US intelligence community. However many were looking for non-existent WMDs in Iraq were unavailable for trying to track and infiltrate al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Thanks for this link.

[Bozita]

3. President Kerry should award Krugman the Medal of Freedom

The award has such a fitting title.

[countmyvote4real]

4. "take the air out of democracy"

I’m already suffocating from the * administration’s bullshit. The air must be tight as well for Republicans that still have a real moral center. Those are the ones that you can quibble with about policy and still break bread without the possibility or even the notion of a total character assassination in response to an opposing viewpoint.

Unfortunately, no, alarmingly this is no longer the case. The * administration’s thug tactics as a response to legitimate concerns should be contested rather than sanctioned and blessed by the media. Oh, but that’s a democracy. No wonder the air is so tight.

[brainoverload]

5. all but blatant about their abuse of facts.

From an MSNBC story about release of Clarke's previous testimony.

"U.S. officials told NBC News that the full record of Clarke’s testimony two years ago would not be declassified. They said that at the request of the White House, however, the CIA was going through the transcript to see what could be declassified, with an eye toward pointing out contradictions."

So it's on the record that bushco. wants the CIA to release portions of Clarke's testimony that supports their side but that the rest of the testimony is to be withheld.

How many media outlets do you think are going to report this when the totally one-sided "transcript" gets released?

[BootinUp]

15. This is a big problem

It is not going to help Clarkes story if they selectively release shit. These people are very shrewd...

[Lexingtonian]

6. it's becoming The Usual Treatment....

"A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep." Saul Bellow

[Lexingtonian]

7. (duplicate post)

(deleted)

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

8. The hypocritical pundits are all laughing about it and pretending

like it's normal. I saw Tweety and Fineman chuckling about it together last night and Fineman said, "All president's do it, Clinton did it to Monica Lewinsky." and he saids it so fondly. You just know if Clinton had tried to do anything one tenth as nasty as Bush has done to people, that their heads would have been spinning around and they would have been spewing about the abuse of power like they were possessed.

I decided last night to quit watching that trash again. I stopped during the Iraq war and then they started luring me back in. No more.

[WillyT]

9. MUST READ !!! - Thanks For Posting This !!!

:bounce::kick::bounce:

[JanMichael]

10. Krugman understands the danger here. When he was on C-SPAN...

..."BookNotes" a few months ago he seems genuinely tense, almost shakey.

I hadn't heard the Dean quote before today...It's what I've been trying to get through to my dad for the last year. He's a pretty far Left Dem but he could never imagine how "bad" these people really are. The last couple of conversation, one last night, has had him going as far out into conjectureland as I do.

Oh well. At least we know a few people who "get" the BFEE...

[0007]

11. I like the last paragraph of the article. John Dean's comment

is very powerful in my opinion.

Paul Krugman is very good. A must read.

[JHB]

12. Admin sources saying "some weird aspects in his life" about Clarke?

What are they saying? That he's "a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty"?

[scarface2004]

13. weird aspects??!!

like a propensity to tell the truth??!!

[DeepModem Mom]

14. Mr. Clarke is unmarried, and there are rumors...

in Freeperland that he is gay. I heard Wolf Blitzer make the "weird aspects" comment live on CNN, and thought it puzzling, and incredibly inappropriate. My guess now that the rumors are circulating is that WH sources were spreading these rumors to Wolf. I neither know, nor care, if Clarke is gay, but if this was the issue that Blitzer characterized on national television as "some weird aspects in his life," then that statement is reprehensible -- as is the White House's discussing any aspect of Clarke's personal life with the press in an attempt to discredit him.

[DeepModem Mom]

16. Kicking this Krugman column that brought attention...

to Wolf Blitzer's on-air "weird aspects in his life" comment about Richard Clarke --

[hippiegranny]

17. krugman...

always knows how to get to the heart of the matter. just said that to keep this thread kicked! this is an important essay.