May 22, 2003


The President's New Clothes
Who knew Robert Byrd would be such a convincing Cassandra?

The veracity and power of his speeches and the casualness with which they are dismissed are almost becoming laughable, in a Titus Andronicus "I have no more tears to weep" kind-of-way. Here, Byrd illustrates how virtually everything President Bush, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, & Co. have said to justify invading Iraq has proven to be a lie used to manipulate the public. Even more disturbing to me is the complicity of the national news organizations in the charade. "Discoveries" of possible WMDs are front page news, but when these same items are proven to be harmless & inconclusive, it gets relegated to a tiny byline on the last page of the paper. And I'm not just talking about Fox News. I mean the Washington Post, CNN, the New York Times, CBS, NBC, etc., etc., etc.

Moreover, the people who are SUPPOSED to be keeping the President honest have just rolled over like a modern day Maginot Line. Or, maybe the more appropriate term is "appeasement".