Don't Let Bush Bury the Present

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Ted Sweeney

Regarding the "Mark of Rove," an even more insidious idea occurred to me a couple of days after the phony "forged document scandal" began. Sure, it would be super clever of Rove to fake documents that essentially contain the truth thus discrediting that truth. But it would be even more of a Grandmaster move to use actual documents to destroy the truth.

Consider this:

Back during the 2000 campaign, it was reported that Bush's TANG files in Texas were thoroughly researched by his campaign team. Of course, folks like us interpreted that as a scrub job. Why wouldn't we?

The team must have found these documents in Col. Killian's P-file. Killian was his CO; of course they checked his files. They left everything in place and immediately created a plausible story to account for the documents, i.e. -- they are forgeries. Friendly "experts" were gathered to create a full-on 24-bit true color oppo plan. They took their time and did a very good job of discrediting the documents. Everyone got their marching orders then waited. This was critical. If anyone traced a leak of the TANG files to Rove after Bush's supporters cried "forgery" then you'd have him red-handed. That was unacceptable.

Remember this was 1999-2000. Rove was preparing for Gore with this. But as we all know a landmine is a patient thing. If it doesn't get the intended victim, it will get someone else eventually.

Rove NEVER leaked the Killian memos; he didn't have to. As Election 2004 came around he set his oppo team to dig into Kerry's Vietnam record. The Swift Boat Liars did their damage to Kerry and made Vietnam an issue. There's your bait. Rove waited for a respected news source to find the files, to take the time to verify the documents and the man who wrote them, to step into the trap. 60 Minutes went public and SNAP. The trap closed. The response was IMMEDIATE and MULTIFACETED. There was a full laundry list of issues in less than a day: document experts with multiple arguments, family members of Killian's, retired TANG officers, etc. No one was ready for that. 60 Minutes never had a chance. As far as they knew, the documents were real and correct BECAUSE THEY WERE REAL AND CORRECT.

How could 60 Minutes see that they were actually playing to Rove's plan? They couldn't. This is Rove's mastery of political intrigue in action. The files that years ago were deadly to Bush transformed into a shield placed over the monster's heart. How freakin' clever is that? Every swing voter or mild Bush supporter who watched 60 Minutes that night saw the truth and was swayed by it, even if only a little bit. Hell, even strong Bushies might have felt a lapse of support.

Then, the "Rove Bomb" went off. EVERY news outlet carried the forgery rap the NEXT DAY. Why? Because the bomb had been planted in advance. All the work had been done ahead of time. A few bloggers and Drudge trotted out some lies about typewriters; some "experts" gave opinions on "breaking news" that had been prepared years ago; the 24 hour news machine rolled it all up in neat bulletins and all the Bushites and swing voters who had felt even an iota of doubt about Bush were inoculated against the truth almost immediately and became IMMUNE to further exposure. The myth of the liberal media grew stronger and Kerry and the Democrats were painted with the tar brush.

I think the scenario above was what we really saw. And if that's true, what other traps are out there? Think about it. The press has not just given these people a four year free pass on all skeletons in the Bush Closet. They have given the Bush Family Evil Empire (BFEE) time and opportunity to turn each of those liabilities into assets.

What this means is that despite the huge amount of blood, sweat, tears and time so many of us have put into researching the past of the BFEE in order to pull down the monster's mask, what we need to do is focus on NOW. The BFEE stole the past and rigged it with tripwires. The press let them do it and it is too late to get it back. Our battleground is NOW.

NOW over 1000 American kids have died for nothing in Iraq. NOW our security is a lie. NOW our friends and allies fear and loathe us. NOW our economy has been turned upside down and its pockets picked for the benefit of the few. NOW class war is being waged on the poor and working class. NOW our rights are gone. NOW Bush has violated his oath of office. NOW Bush is a war-criminal. NOW. NOW. NOW.

NOW we stop playing their game. NOW we start playing ours. We DO NOT dig up the past. WE KEEP THEM FROM BURYING THE PRESENT!

Don't just read BuzzFlash. READ BUZZFLASH OUT LOUD TO YOUR FRIENDS!
Don't assume your parents are too old to change. CHANGE THEM!
Don't write your Reps and Senators. PICKET THEIR OFFICES!
Don't grumble about unemployment. ORGANIZE THE UNEMPLOYED!
Don't read the news. MAKE THE NEWS!

Thanks Buzz. You are doing it right.

Ted Sweeney
Lowell, MA

PS - In order to avoid legal entanglements from the BFEE I'd like to point out that the statement "MAKE THE NEWS!" should be taken by all readers to mean only law-abiding acts of news making. TS

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION