December 11, 2002

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About that "Sexual Lawsuit" Against Bush in Texas
December 11th

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

BuzzFlash has received many reader questions about why we have not posted a story about a "pro se" lawsuit filed in Texas "accusing" Bush of rape.

It is important for BuzzFlash to remind our readers that not every accusation is credible. Anyone can file a lawsuit.

We have read the lawsuit petition and decided it was not appropriate for BuzzFlash. Enough said.

If you were really on the conspiratorial side, you might say that, hypothetically speaking, the filing of a ludicrous court petition charging George W. Bush with rape -- and we are just speaking hypothetically of the future (not of any existing lawsuit) -- would benefit Bush in the long run. It's called "innoculating" an issue.

Karl Rove brilliantly "innoculated" Bush against the widespread rumors that he had abused cocaine while in the Texas Air Force Reserves. Indeed, it was the contention of Jim Hatfield, author of the legendary "Fortunate Son," that he was set up to leak "evidence" of Bush's cocaine use. Why? According to Jim's theory, Rove then undercut the claim by providing the media with information damaging to Hatfield's credibility. By revealing Hatfield's past, the cocaine rumors were put to rest because the messenger had been discredited.

Similarly -- in a hypothetical sense -- if a frivolous lawsuit were filed, in the future, concerning bizarre and rambling sex charges against Bush, any future credible charge against Bush regarding sexual misdeeds (and we're not saying that there are any out there) would be met with Rove claims that these were just more "crazy" allegations like the one in the hypothetical frivolous rape suit.

In fact, this hypothetical rape suit that might appear in the future could also come to us as a hoax. (Again, we are speaking of hypothetical activity in the future.)

Now, we are honestly only raising these issues hypothetically.

As for the merits of the particular lawsuit that is caroming around the Internet, we will leave the courts to decide. From our understanding, there has been no hearing yet as to its merits.

Our analysis is just of a hypothetical case.

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