Hmmmph…

Comments

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  Kirk

  July 28, 2024, 12:10 am

  Even if you assume Bush and Cheney directly or indirectly encourage/routinely engage in corrupt behavior, that doesn't suggest a willy-nilly-ness about how it's done. If anything, that's how you get caught, like in this case. If we're talking about a general acceptance and tendency toward corruption..at an administration level...then it's at least implied that there's a certain level of professionalism about it, for lack of a better word. That professionialism is the same thing that ensures you learn how to cover it up a bit better. That's why I think ineptitude might be the better of the two descriptions. If it was administration level corruption, we'd have never heard about it.
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  Kirk

  July 28, 2024, 12:11 am

  Even if you assume Bush and Cheney directly or indirectly encourage/routinely engage in corrupt behavior, that doesn't suggest a willy-nilly-ness about how it's done. If anything, that's how you get caught, like in this case. If we're talking about a general acceptance and tendency toward corruption..at an administration level...then it's at least implied that there's a certain level of professionalism about it, for lack of a better word. That professionialism is the same thing that ensures you learn how to cover it up a bit better. That's why I think ineptitude might be the better of the two descriptions. If it was administration level corruption, we'd have never heard about it.
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  jaedalaurez

  July 28, 2024, 12:12 am

  I feel better about my vote...but then again, i didn't vote for him lol. I truly do not understand HOW major press has not been all over this adminstration...f***k a White House press pass....they are abusing the American (well, actually they're doing it everywhere) people, to the point where it doesn't seem to phase anybody any more "Oh- human torture?..weeeeeeelllll...we ARE in the middle of a war....the war? yeah, i know he lied and said there were WMD's, but now it's about giving them the same freedom we enjoy here, like freedom of the press....oh...they wanted to bomb Al-Jazeera in order to get rid of Iraqi press?..well....they DO sometimes talk badly about us..." it's like, nothing is ever shocking any more and everything is justifiable. It's completely insane, and now with Canada adopting a conservative Gov't for the first time in about 12 years or so...i mean, they totally didn't learn a damn thing from what's going on in the States.
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  jaedalaurez

  July 28, 2024, 12:13 am

  I feel better about my vote...but then again, i didn't vote for him lol. I truly do not understand HOW major press has not been all over this adminstration...f***k a White House press pass....they are abusing the American (well, actually they're doing it everywhere) people, to the point where it doesn't seem to phase anybody any more "Oh- human torture?..weeeeeeelllll...we ARE in the middle of a war....the war? yeah, i know he lied and said there were WMD's, but now it's about giving them the same freedom we enjoy here, like freedom of the press....oh...they wanted to bomb Al-Jazeera in order to get rid of Iraqi press?..well....they DO sometimes talk badly about us..." it's like, nothing is ever shocking any more and everything is justifiable. It's completely insane, and now with Canada adopting a conservative Gov't for the first time in about 12 years or so...i mean, they totally didn't learn a damn thing from what's going on in the States.
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  aliajsmith

  July 28, 2024, 12:14 am

  Why do you think that people will have to acknowledge it? Let's be real: if people are willing to overlook not only the ineptitude surrounding Hurricane Katrina, but the wiretapping scandals and the whole morass in Iraq, they'll overlook anything. The Bush administration happened to be in power on 9/11. That's all the fear-stricken momentum they needed to carry them along for 8 years and beyond.
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  aliajsmith

  July 28, 2024, 12:15 am

  Why do you think that people will have to acknowledge it? Let's be real: if people are willing to overlook not only the ineptitude surrounding Hurricane Katrina, but the wiretapping scandals and the whole morass in Iraq, they'll overlook anything. The Bush administration happened to be in power on 9/11. That's all the fear-stricken momentum they needed to carry them along for 8 years and beyond.
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  Rell

  July 28, 2024, 12:16 am

  Jan. 2009 can't get here fast enough...
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  Kirk

  July 28, 2024, 12:17 am

  The major press has already been all over the Administration (New York Times, anyone?), but I think a lot of people have too much faith in what exactly the press can accomplish. A free press can only report news..it's up to people outside of the press to act on what they see/read, if they feel so inclined. The press itself has no real teeth with which to bite, they can only bark really loud. Besides, many of the complaints and issues that have been reported on in the last couple years, especially post-Katrina, don't directly lead to anyone in the highest levels of the Administration. Rather, they point to individuals on the lower tiers, and only indirectly at best to Bush and Cheney themselves. Whether that's telling in itself is another argument, and one probably not worth having, since nobody is likely to have their mind changed at this point. Point being, most people seem to attribute these problems to the actions of individuals or to a flawed process, not to the President or Vice President themselves. And, truthfully, there are still a lot of people in the public that don't agree that an Iraqi invasion was a bad idea, etc. So, until something happens that directly and irrefutably implicates either Bush or Cheney, nothing is terribly likely to change in terms of how these questions are addressed. Jaedalaurez's comments on some of the more questionable policies are also on-target, but historically, I think that those practices have been a lot more prevalent than we'd like to believe. The only difference is that now we hear more about them because of increased access for the press and technological advances that make it easier to disperse news, rumor, and conjecture of all sorts. Phrased another way, what would happen if we took a closer look at the money that was spent by various governments under the Marshall Plan? What about if we took a harder look at what Truman and his advisors did or didn't know before he ordered the atomic bomb to be dropped...twice? That's not to say that any of it is good or bad or neutral, just that it's all happened before, and it's not as simple as a clear cut case of corruption, ineptitude or even sheer evil. Oversimplifying the problem can be just as bad as ignoring it completely.
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  Ben

  July 28, 2024, 12:18 am

  ...and turning a blind eye by saying that it's nothing new is the worst of all.
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  Kirk

  July 28, 2024, 12:19 am

  It's not a blind eye, it's just not a naively idealistic one. If you're that bothered by any of it, then go ahead and try to fix something, in whatever small way you think an individual can. Or, at the very least, try to show some understanding of the issue beyond the standard "I think George Bush is a really bad guy" commentary. But "blind" criticism for its own sake is the worst form of intellectual laziness.
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  Kirk

  July 28, 2024, 12:20 am

  It's not a blind eye, it's just not a naively idealistic one. If you're that bothered by any of it, then go ahead and try to fix something, in whatever small way you think an individual can. Or, at the very least, try to show some understanding of the issue beyond the standard "I think George Bush is a really bad guy" commentary. But "blind" criticism for its own sake is the worst form of intellectual laziness.
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  nikki

  July 28, 2024, 12:21 am

  i didn't vote for bush. i figure the best way for me to make a difference is by being active in the community he's actively trying to fuck up.
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  nikki

  July 28, 2024, 12:22 am

  i didn't vote for bush. i figure the best way for me to make a difference is by being active in the community he's actively trying to fuck up.