Saturday, June 24, 2006

The Doc never lied.


He let his Id off its leash, let it take Master classes in peyote-stoked Impressionism, let it go brilliantly mad with a typewriter and called it “Gonzo”, but he never lied.

And in an alternate Universe where the Doc lives on, Jason Leopold’s head would be handsomely mounted above Hunter’s mantle, and his ribcage and pelvic girdle would be the structural members for one hell of a hookah out at Woody Creek.

So lets talk about the Rove Thing.

I had hoped this vile little puppycrusher would be perp-walked out of his black-ops demesnes. That the feds would raid his Sith lab in the basement of the White House where he spends endless hours perfecting the dark art of keeping the nation divided and hateful with the precision of an atom splitter, and move him over to the graybar world of orange jumpsuits and doors that lock from the outside.

Might still happen. Might not. But I wanted it, it didn’t happen, so there you go.

It was a sideshow. An important one to be sure, but not the center ring, and shame on me for all the talking I do about the slow, steady, frustrating pace at which fundamental change always happens to put any stock in a silver bullet.

Hell, wee driftglass that I was, I wanted Nixon and all of his pinstriped henchmen to go down in a hail of gunfire “Butch Cassidy”-style as the FBI stormed the Oval Office. Or at least paraded naked in a cage down the main street of every village, hamlet, city and town that lost a son or daughter in Vietnam on his watch.

Also Helen Gahagan Douglas should have gotten three free cockpunches with a ball peen hammer.

But I didn’t get that.

Instead I got to see him resign in disgrace, after which the country got drowsy and inattentive and nodded off, only wake up in the 21st century wonder how in the hell a feebleminded creep and a posse of anti-science theocrats had managed to take over an advanced industrial democracy at the dawn of the information age.

And the answer is simple: they wanted it more.

They were willing to stay on message, en masse, year after year. They were willing to shrug off defeat and get back in the game.

They were willing try and fail and try again.

And while they were laughed at and mocked, every year they got stronger at the grass roots. They ran for school board and city council, and forced their agenda in through the cracks. This is why Dean’s 50 State Strategy makes long term sense. This is why people (DLC) who perceive of power as something seated in and radiating outward and downward from Washington D.C. mock and fear insurgency campaigns, bloggers and so forth.

Because it’s messy, andthe boss (that’d be us) is very exacting: either you serve your constituents or out on your ass you go-go-go.

This kind of arrangement does not afford the consulting, triangulating, poll-testing caste with much job security. And this is why they will always be at loggerheads with those of us that think of D.C. not as a source of power, but simply as its focus. A place where our massed might gets lensed into action on the matters we deem most important.

If you occasionally get all sweary and pissed when things get to tough, that’s fine. We all do. Take a break, go have a Dr. Pepper, and come back when you’re rested. But if you fall apart after each defeat, this is not the fight for you.

Which leads us to “t r u t h o u t” and Jason Leopold.

Because in the face of setback and frustration, it is terribly tempting to posit sekrit unknowable external factors that render your otherwise patently ludicrous ideas “true”. Your truth is, in fact, more truthy than mere truth because it just feels sooo right.

(Insert Barry White crooning “oooooh baby.”)

Unfortunately that cuts zero ice in the Real World.

See, while I will zealously argue for anyone’s “if it feels good, do it” rights, so long as those rights are within the clear circumscription of consent and victimlessness and I don't have to clean the joint up after you, I have no such pity for the idea of, “If it feels good, believe it.”

(I say this as I wait here, patiently, for Lucy Liu to show up on my doorstep in naught but heels and a smile, freely admitting that I can be as guilty of wishful thinkingness as anyone. We're all sinners here, which is why it's so important to keep each other honest.)

Because down that road lies madness. Down there you find the whole San Diego Zoo of wingnut idiocy, from Jerry Falwell to David Brooks, both of whom chucked Occam's razor into the industrial iron masher years ago and instead delight in ascribing thier own suite of Magic Powers to the Dear Leader. Secret Invisible Attributes that somehow redeem his every gaff, blunder, lie and war crime by ascribing to each of them special, spiritual significance.

That can only be understood within a larger context.

Which only they can dimly perceive.

And only using specially treated, GOP X-Ray glasses.

Of course anyone outside the BlunderDome, from a savvy eight-year-old to a mental health professional, can see it for what it is: more radically delusional stupidity from the poor Persecuted Majority.

Bush/Cheney, plus a compliant Congress and a Vaseline-spined press, plus the moral, fiscal and military blank check handed to them on 9/11 was everything short of the repeal of the Emancipation Proclamation they ever wished for. It was their Conservative Wet Dream Come True, and now it's a dream from which the dare not awaken lest their heads explode like 20 million Coelacanths in Low Earth Orbit.

Instead their Beautiful Minds scuttle deeper into denial and darkness, eyes clamped tighter and tighter shut, navigating now only by the virtual light of their own retinal flashes. And in this cave within a cave within an abyss, they tell themselves they see miraculous patterns everywhere, that explain everything.

Their own Duh’Vinci Code spun up out of whole cloth impelled entirely by their desperate and terrible need to be right when they are so clearly and horribly wrong.

Because like the psychotic Dominionist cult from whose diseased loins modern Conservativism springs, those that still support Bush cannot allow themselves to believe they are even a little bit wrong, because if one verse of the True Faith is wrong, then what about all the others?

Once even a smidge of doubt is allowed into their mental clean room, then everything is up for grabs, and it all starts to fly apart under the weight of its own corruption.

And they walked themselves into this circle of Hell one step at a time.

One lie, one imaginary enemy, one Comprehensive Conspiracy Theory and one enabling Hate Radio vampire at a time, because they chose to believe what felt good -- what fed their rage and bigotry and ignorance -- instead of what was true. And now there is too much at stake, and too much blood and death, too many maimed, too much debt, too much lost, too many stinking lies, too many frontal assaults on the Constitution on their heads to march themselves back and begin again with clean hands.

They went “all in” with monsters because those monsters promised them they could keep their delusions and racism and hypocrisy, and the Devil would never come for his due.

And now He is here, with an IOU a thousand miles long in his hand, and the wingnuts need someone to blame, and some Grand Confederating Theory to explain why their ludicrous ideology still makes any sense in the face of their unbroken string of failure and ruin.

And we cannot be like that, which is why, when I got this email from “t r u t h o u t” (I’m now on everyone’s mailing list. Oh joy. And sorry, but no links to sites without credibility) that read, in part,

William Fisher on immigration and educating Americans on civics; GOP rejects Democratic call for Iraq troop pullout; Specter to confront officials on Bush ignoring laws; offshore drilling bill advances in House; J. Sri Raman writes on New Delhi's silence over Nepal's regime change; and more.... Browse our continually updating front page at ...

Join fellow bloggers at the Truthout Town Meeting. Get perspectives on today's important issues from Truthout's editorial team and prominent guest bloggers. Join the debate! ...


This was my reply:

To The Editor,

Until your reporter – Jason Leopold – makes good on his solemn promise to out his sources should his Rove Indictment story prove to be wrong, please take me off of your mailing list. I will not recommend your site to my readers, nor will I visit or link to it.

You made a mistake. A big one. And your explanations as to why your story is still the “real” story get more grandiose and junkie-ridiculous each time I hear them.

Your only currency is your credibility, and right now you have none. You can repair the breach you caused and the shame you have brought on yourself by either holding Leopold to the only promise that it is within his power to keep, or by ridding yourself of a liar who has cost you your good name.

You must either take action as responsible journalists, or rebrand yourself as a conspiracy and alien-baby rag, because there is no third alternative.

Until you recover your senses and your honor, please do not bother me with any more email. I’ll only delete it.

Sincerely,

driftglass


So there you go.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen bro.

Anonymous said...

I still want it, though.

Karen McL said...

Hmmm...I have to say I think you're a tad short sighted on this, Drifty, and buying the obfuscation, distraction and hype you are MEANT to by good ole Rover.

In the world of all reality fits into their 90-day window-dressing of poll numbers and upcoming election-smearing...this IS a big deal. And keeping Rove's credibility UP to allow for his wheeling and dealing through the final voting tally is all in the game.

While I don't claim to have those *source names* you crave...I have a few insights and would take a wager that vindication will be slow to come (because much of this will not be known until the 2007 trial of Scooter - if then) BUT will Come and tend favor to the side of the Truthout crowd over the Corello/Rove spinmeisters.

I wrote a few tid bits about this (If ya cares) after a few conversations with your subject of scorn...and ya might want to peek at my observations.

;-)

here and Here and Here and Here...in a bit of a series.

Karen McL said...

Oh...and I hate to get overly *conspiracy theorist* here (though I do bring it UP) but DO I really need to mention HOW good they folks are at this stuff? Jest ask John McCain, Max Cleland, John Kerry...how it's DONE.

*smile*

The Minstrel Boy said...

especially when you are calling yourself truthout there exists in my mind an obligation to live up to the name. sure, you can get things wrong, you can be taken in yourself, but, when that happens, the process that leads you to the mistaken conclusion needs to be much more transparent. without, retraction, apology and explanation the truthout name becomes just one more misnomer.

Karen McL said...

I forgot to put up a suitable *wager*...but I am sure there is enough time between now and 2007 to think of something. Ya ON - Drifty?

Me for Truthout's version and YoU for BushCo's Version of events?

Hmmm?????? What say YoU?

Anonymous said...

what, are those the only two versions likely to come to fruition? truthout's or bushco's?
right.
i recommend stocking up on food items with long shelf-lives.

Anonymous said...

karen mcl,

there's only one wager on the table - will leopold name his sources or will he get fired? I don't have a clue about how your various posts relate to this.

Karen McL said...

Interesting anonymous - none of those are the two options to which I refer.

Because either Leopold is correct and there was an indictment -subject to prosecutorial discretion for *assistance and cooperation* with additional information helpful to the investigation - Thus "no charges are anticipated to be filed" (as reported by Luskin - absent any details of this Deal Making).

Or - it as the Corello/Rove/ Lauria narrative runs that this entire scenario was *made-up* by Leopold, His editors and their Sources...No indictment ever existed, Rove is exonerated of all complicity and nexus to this matter...

and Oh by the way - Leopold impersonated Mr Lauria (someone he just met doing a Book Review of Him) to Marc Corello. Taken as a single source story from a Rover Spokesperson...but unverifiable - who also claims Leopold never (and his editors never did either) called Mr Corello himself for a comment?

Hmmm...the wager is is On and About the credibility of these two narratives.

And GEE...as Team BushCo [and Rove and His spokes-people] have SOOOOoooo of that High Level of Credibility...with ME (Call me CraZEE!)

As so many of their Tall Tale Narratives just seem to actually NEVER PAN OUT in real life...that reality based community I Live in.

Well, I'll wager on it being more likely that their Truthout version is the One and only truth we will find out in the end of this tale.

The Minstrel Boy said...

and who pays if they are all fucking liars?

WereBear said...

"Duh’Vinci Code"!

Brilliant!

It's disapointing to have the Rove snake slide free at this point in time. Of course we would love to see how he looks in orange. Fitzgerald "does not anticipate seeking charges" against Rove. But, as any viewer of Law & Order knows, that means he turned!

Because the only other explanation is that he's innocent. (Yeah, right.)

So if he turned... that has possibilities as yet unrealized. Do you think Karl would let the whole thing fall down if it meant he would stay un-jumpsuited?

If it's organized crime (and it is) and someone gets indicted (and they have) and someone else who could have been indicted but was not (and that's what happened) then the someone else may escape direct retribution, but cannot escape the consequences of what he did to ensure that outcome.

When it's a choice between the structure you are a part of and your own capacious ass, you sell the structure down the river.

It just hasn't hit port yet.

Anonymous said...

I think the problem stems largely from the RBC's desire to know the truth and see the real fissures in the foundation of this vile administration.

So when someone says 'hey, guess what! I have some truth for you, and this is going to be the beginning of the foundation-crumbling that will allow us to finally begin the arduous work of rebuilding our country' we are so very happy. And when our dreams of the hemhorrage being staunched are dashed yet again we are so angry and disappointed. For all we know, JL's source was planted by Rove himself in a plot to discredit truthout.

The debate does tend to obscure the real meat of the situation - that a veteran spook and her whole operation was ruined for petty partisan payback (and likely a deeper goal of starting and perpetuating war). Does anyone really think Rove, Cheney, and Bush were NOT involved? We just want the truth, we want them indicted, convicted and frogmarched, and we want to stop the damage and get to work fixing this mess.

I'm with Karen. I'm not going to assume that anything truthout says from here on is besmirched by JL whether or not he reveals his source, any more than I'm suddenly going to believe that BushCo has finally discovered a vein of honesty in their motherlode of bullshit. I'm going to file the whole episode under "things that make me go 'hmmmmm'" and continue hoping that somehow someday soon there will be some truth to be had.

Anonymous said...

Because the only other explanation is that he's (rove) innocent.

or perhaps fitzerald is not quite the paragon that we would like to believe he is.

jurassicpork said...

Let's talk evolution for a minute. Specifically, where's the missing link between 9/11 and Iraq? Such a demand for a missing link seems to work well for Creationists. Why not war critics?

Anonymous said...

but that would be unthinkable! wouldn't it?

Anonymous said...

Driftglass,

What you wrote is so accurate. The Democratic party cannot become a victim of its own propaganda. That sort of mind set is exactly what caused the GOP delusion of Iraq as imminent threat and sponsor of the 9/11 attacks. Just because our political enemies will stoop to any lie and smear campaign, those with honor and integrity will defend themselves only with the truth and accountability. Perhaps with a little truthiness for flavor.

Always a privilege to read your great analysis and wordsmithing.

Anonymous said...

This isn't about whether Rove is guilty, it's about whether you can trust a source of information that claims to be exceptionally solid. Nobody asked TO to go out on a limb. They're not billing themselves as a gossip rag.

It's pretty simple. Either TO/JL come clean with the whole story including the source - as they promised, or I can't trust them to tell a houseplant from a deep throat. Either way, ball's in their court.

driftglass said...

gratzi all.
on the run today between grindstone and NaCl mine.
more later as time permits

Anonymous said...

Is this post the template for addressing the "agent provocateur" within the movement?

Anonymous said...

Has Rove been exhonerated. if so, where is the proof? Why would you, or anyone, believe anything that comes from Bush & co?

I don't understand your hurry to say "oh, we were wrong, Karl is a good man who hasn't been indicted (or traded info to save his ass).

With the Scooter show scheduled for 2007 (well after mid-term election), can you believe anything Rove or his attorneys or cohorts might have to say.

I think you may be expecting a retraction based on a lot less credible information than what Leopold based his Rove stories on.

Karen McL said...

Oh...and what I REALLY want to Know IS...

Why do you have an *Archive* (sitting there for days) for July 2006 and it's only June 2006?

Us Techno-Dweebs don't quite GET It!

*wink*

Anonymous said...

"peyote-stoked Impressionism"

I could only manage with some fungal tea this time round, but it afforded a peak between the cracks, and the Word is (to quote Tom Robbins):

"People of the world, relax!"

driftglass said...

Karen McL,
'cause I've got powers.
Scary powers :-)

us blues,
Hola and stay well.

Off to the racing of the rats.

Anonymous said...

Can't tell ya what it is, but my spidey sense is all tinglin.

I think I hear a rumble...
Might be the 5 O'Clock,
or thunder?
might be hooves,
might be nuthin..
dunno
but I'm crankin up the JC cuz I feel like Justice has no friend.




"Folsom Prison Blues"

I hear the train a comin'
it's rollin' 'round the bend,
And I ain't seen the sunshine since
I don't know when.
I'm stuck at Folsom Prison
and time keeps draggin' on.
But that train keeps rollin'
on down to San Antone.

When I was just a baby,
my mama told me, "Son,
Always be a good boy,
don't ever play with guns."
But I shot a man in Reno,
just to watch him die.
When I hear that whistle blowin'
I hang my head and cry.

I bet there's rich folk eatin' in a fancy dining car.
They're prob'ly drinkin' coffee and smokin' big cigars,
But I know I had it comin',
I know I can't be free,
But those people keep a movin', and that's what tortures me.

Well, if they freed me from this prison,
if that railroad train was mine,
I bet I'd move on over a little farther down the line,
Far from Folsom Prison,
that's where I want to stay,
And I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away.


:-P
-skunq

Anonymous said...

You can't find justice, it'll find you..

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