July 9, 2002
Is The Harken Oil Scandal Dead In The Water?
by A BuzzFlash Reader
Forget it... It's dead. Other than Paul Krugman, nobody at the top wants to cover this. Anybody with a brain can see he knew about Harken's troubles, but they've rationalized it away. To admit the obvious now would be to face the reality that they've completely let down the public by not exposing just how wholly unqualified W was for the office from the moment he announced his campaign.
Maureen Dowd is the obvious example. She trashes Gore for things such as his wardrobe, but now feels sort of bad now when she realizes that W, though a likable sort, has policies that only benefit his rich friends.
All this boils down to the over emphasis of "personality" in politics. For 8 years, the actual policies pursued by President Clinton helped greatly in ensuring a long period of peace and prosperity for our country. Most of the media however despised him. With the Lewinsky story, the media went on a ratings orgy, feasting off of Clinton's personality flaw. During this time, the beneficial effects of his policies on the country were largely ignored.
Then comes Bush Jr. with his "aw shucks" act and the promise of BIG tax cuts. The media, who are almost all in the higher tax brackets, bought the bait. They obligingly trashed Gore, for trivial things such as being a "know-it-all". God forbid we had a President who was very smart and knew it. They ignored the fact that Bush's budget numbers made no sense. They ignored the questionable business practices of Bush and Cheney. They ignored the fact that Bush had a razor thin resume and had almost no knowledge of the world outside the U.S. And they ignored the massive hypocrisy and dirty tactics that got Bush appointed to the Presidency.
So with all this failure behind them, how do you expect them to confess to the American public that they've failed them badly. Better to just ignore the incompetence and hope Bush doesn't send the country even more into the toilet.
A BuzzFlash Reader
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