Looking at it from a slightly different angle, if facts come out that make you look bad enough in public that some explanation is demanded, would you rather appear to be criminal or would you rather appear to be stupid? Clearly, stupid has less serious consequences in such a context. Which is why every shit-faced politician (and all other kinds of evildoers since Reagan perfected the gambit) universally adopt the “I was stupid” defense when cornered.

Bush and his cronies may be mentally defective in many ways, but nobody is bad at everything, and what these folks excel at is secrecy, scheming, manipulation, and being revoltingly amoral.

Then like an old Mafia Don, pretending to be insane for decades, Dumbya has only been pretending to be incompetent since at least his college days and business “career”?

Now that’s some deep cover.

Talk often and loudly, and carry a very, very, very small stick (a pin needle will do).

Heraclitus @ 111

Thanks! Sure, I understand that the DLC is all about the corporate agenda, but how does, say, the FISA “reform” do anything for corporations? Only thing I can think of is that it lets the telcos off a potential legal hook.

I don’t really know. A few possibilities come to mind:

1. It’s probably simplistic and paranoid to think that a single explanation covers all events. Perhaps the DLC caved becase they believe their own propaganda about COWARDICE=COURAGE, not because they have a material corporate interest in the spy state.

2. Perhaps there is a corporate interest in developing the techniques. In my field of work spying technology has nearly sucked up all the oxygen for research and development.

3. Perhaps the conscious or unconscious consensus among corporate elites is that more control will be necessary and the government will be their arm of enforcement until CorpSeCorps (see Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake) AKA Blackwater can do the job.

Or maybe they did just fuck up the parliamentary process. But I doubt it.

Remember all that eavesdropping the NSA did? Well it seems fairly obvious thay could have acquired enough damaging information to blackmail a large number of Blue Dogs and media people, who thus would become complete putty in the hands of the Bushites. Why haven’t you considered this possibility?

Oh my god. It is pretty obvious, once you point it out. That does explain a lot.

The only reason the Ds have any support at all is that they have fooled a large number of people into thinking that they actually favor progressive policies and would implement them if only they could take power. They (their leadership, which still leads the party) actually favor pretty much the same policies as the Rs. They support the bare minimum of progressive figleafs in order to maintain that illusion. The real function of the party is to prevent a real opposition party from forming (with a huge assist from a severely anti-democratic electoral system).

The Democrats have showed great courage and cleverness in standing up for their principles in the face of massive opposition from the base of their party. This time is very dangerous for them because the Rs have alienated so much of the electorate that the Ds may be put in power with nothing to hide behind. Look forward to more massive “blunders” and “betrayals”. The latest Gallup poll has Congress far less popular than Bush.

test1 @ 215

Eli,
Who, or what, is “RoGiv” in the 3rd paragraph of the item?

Robin Givhan, style writer at WaPo. I believe she broke the Terribly Important News Flash (so to speak) about Hillary’s cleavage.

Will she break the news about Freddie Thompsons “cleavage” (and I’m not referring to his trophy wife).

Not only would that explain a lot of things, but it wouldn’t be as embarassing as having Mr. Potatoe-Head running our country.