The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations
Somewhere in the last 24, now lost in my synapses, I read a quote from some republithug to the effect that they had had "more good news in the last week than in the preceding year." When they choose all the right words like that (no "noose," "weak," "then," or "receding," just to touch on some obvious potential pitfalls) it is usually a clue that the comment didn't actually originate in the White House. Alas that isn't helping with my recall, and it isn't so critical that I am going to give in to the temptation of on-line searching, which almost always teaches me fascinating things about stuff ever-so-far from whatever my original puzzle was.
But desperately trying to get the train back on the track here, the idea that Rove will not be indicted is undeniably a serious downer for any sentient creature. The man-or-whatever has done so much damage to civility and what used to be our formerly widely-admired form of governance that an indictment would actually have been too good for his kind. He might even be the exception that even Amnesty International would acknowledge as rationale for not totally outlawing torture (I doubt that - they do have principles, versus Rove et al). But it does seem healthy and in the spirit of getting the equivalent of the grieving process in motion to face that reality that is apparently anathema to the guy appointed though likely not elected to be our leader. Not all that long ago (a year?) the idea that KKKarl would even be a genuine target of the investigation was semi-fantastic. Disappointing outcome indeed, but let us not misplace the bigger scorecard.
Anonymous Liberal helps with the perspective. Kevin Drum in Washington Monthly apparently coined the terrific phrase I borrowed for subject, which alternately evokes for me names like Agnew and Mitchell but could also stimulate some latter-day Stephen Foster crooning. Humor aside, it's bad enough when the miscreants themselves are allowed to lower the bar on their behavior to where not getting caught with incontrovertible evidence is good enough; what the hell is the Post (among others) doing helping them with the lowering?
You're Not Supposed to Get Indicted
Wednesday's Washington Post reported:
In a White House that had virtually forgotten what good news looks like, the past few weeks have been refreshing. A Republican won a much-watched special congressional election. President Bush recruited a Wall Street heavy hitter as Treasury secretary. U.S. forces killed the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. And now the architect of the Bush presidency has avoided criminal charges.
To which Kevin Drum responded:
Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations. The GOP barely won a congressional election in a district that's 60% Republican. After a year of looking, the White House finally persuaded someone to become Secretary of the Treasury. They killed a terrorist they could have killed three years ago if they'd wanted to. And Bush's top aide has "avoided criminal charges."
Low expectations is right. If I close my eyes I can picture Chris Rock:
"You're supposed to win that election. You're not supposed to get indicted. What do you want, a cookie? You low expectation havin' motha f----s!!!"
But desperately trying to get the train back on the track here, the idea that Rove will not be indicted is undeniably a serious downer for any sentient creature. The man-or-whatever has done so much damage to civility and what used to be our formerly widely-admired form of governance that an indictment would actually have been too good for his kind. He might even be the exception that even Amnesty International would acknowledge as rationale for not totally outlawing torture (I doubt that - they do have principles, versus Rove et al). But it does seem healthy and in the spirit of getting the equivalent of the grieving process in motion to face that reality that is apparently anathema to the guy appointed though likely not elected to be our leader. Not all that long ago (a year?) the idea that KKKarl would even be a genuine target of the investigation was semi-fantastic. Disappointing outcome indeed, but let us not misplace the bigger scorecard.
Anonymous Liberal helps with the perspective. Kevin Drum in Washington Monthly apparently coined the terrific phrase I borrowed for subject, which alternately evokes for me names like Agnew and Mitchell but could also stimulate some latter-day Stephen Foster crooning. Humor aside, it's bad enough when the miscreants themselves are allowed to lower the bar on their behavior to where not getting caught with incontrovertible evidence is good enough; what the hell is the Post (among others) doing helping them with the lowering?
You're Not Supposed to Get Indicted
Wednesday's Washington Post reported:
In a White House that had virtually forgotten what good news looks like, the past few weeks have been refreshing. A Republican won a much-watched special congressional election. President Bush recruited a Wall Street heavy hitter as Treasury secretary. U.S. forces killed the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. And now the architect of the Bush presidency has avoided criminal charges.
To which Kevin Drum responded:
Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations. The GOP barely won a congressional election in a district that's 60% Republican. After a year of looking, the White House finally persuaded someone to become Secretary of the Treasury. They killed a terrorist they could have killed three years ago if they'd wanted to. And Bush's top aide has "avoided criminal charges."
Low expectations is right. If I close my eyes I can picture Chris Rock:
"You're supposed to win that election. You're not supposed to get indicted. What do you want, a cookie? You low expectation havin' motha f----s!!!"
posted by Sir Gumbo at 9:27 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home