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From the Santa Monica Daily Press
Missing the Point on Distrust of Bush Administration
LOS ANGELES TIMES COLUMNIST JONAH GOLDBERG RANTS that the Democrats are "out of their gourds", "delusional" and have gone beyond "blame America first," based on a recent Rasmussen poll that found that 35 percent of Democrats believed that President Bush "knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance" and another 26 percent were unsure. Goldberg's conclusion that Democrats have a "serious problem" misses the point entirely. When 61 percent of Democrats and 44 percent of the total sample are unable to dismiss such a proposition, it is the Republicans who have a "serious problem."
The Rasmussen poll is not an aberration since it is one of many polls documenting the public's growing mistrust of the Bush administration, which, according to John Dean, has made mendacity public policy. For example, a February ABC News/Washington Post poll reported that 63 percent of Americans do not trust the Bush Administration to honestly and accurately report intelligence about possible threats from other countries. Similarly, a 2006 CBS Poll found that 20 percent of Americans thought that the Bush administration was never or hardly ever truthful and even one fifth of Republicans believed that this administration told the truth "only some of the time."
Nonetheless, to conclude or even suspect that the administration would have been complicit in 9/11 requires more than mistrust, but evidence of or belief that the administrationwould sacrifice the national interest for its own. The outing of Valerie Plame is a perfect example of this behavior, as is the fact that when Dick Cheney was president of Halliburton and Condoleezza Rice sat on Chevron's board and led its public policy committee, both companies paid kickbacks to Saddam Hussein.
In addition, from Michael Brown being appointed to head FEMA to Cheney's infamous remark that the 2002 election results meant that they could pursue tax cuts despite their impact on the deficit since it was "their due," this administration has repeatedly been defined by its cronyism and catering to big business at the expense of working Americans. This has meant blocking efforts to close off-shore tax loopholes, shifting the cost of cleaning up waste sites from the polluters to taxpayers, eliminating "responsible contractor" rules requiring agencies to take into account "violations of labor, employment, environmental or consumer protection laws" and showering cronies with government contracts by increasing contracting to record levels and doubling the number of no-bid awards.
When this behavior is considered in the context of the administration's infringement of civil liberties, unprecedented signing statements and refusal to acknowledge limitations on its powers, along with lingering questions about whether the 2000, 2002 or 2004 elections were rigged -- it is easy to understand the widespread distrust.
Finally, there is the question of motive. Conspiracy theorists usually combine the neo-con manifesto published by the Project for a New American Century (signed by Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, Jeb Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and others ) which noted how a Pearl Harbor-like event could galvanize the public to support their agenda and the administration's total failure to heed pre-September 11 warnings to make their case. While these theories have some holes and are somewhat fanciful, four years into a war launched by 237 lies and misstatements (according to a Congressional study), these theories are far more reality based than this administration's ignoring all scientific data on global warming.
There is no doubt that it is sad to think that so many would view this administration as capable of such treachery. This is not a question of "blame America first," as Goldberg contends, since this theory is not based on any inherent flaw in the American character or system of government,but on this particular administration's repeated decisions to benefit the few at the expense of the many and lie whenever it is convenient to do so.
I can only imagine that had Goldberg covered the Exxon Valdez incident he would have ignored Exxon's role and instead blamed the seals for swimming in the polluted waters since, in this case, Goldberg's rant fails to acknowledge how the Bush administration's actions have polluted the political landscape. The reality is not that Democrats have "lost their gourd," but that Republicans have lost the faith and trust of the American people.
As Sophocles noted long ago: When trust dies, mistrust blossoms. This administration has done everything possible to deliver a bountiful harvest.
Bennet Kelley is the former Co-Founder and National Co-Chair of the Democratic National Committee's Saxophone Club (its young professional fundraising and outreach arm in the Clinton years); a columnist with the Santa Monica Daily Press, contributing author to Big Bush Lies, publisher of BushLies.net and an internet attorney living in Santa Monica.
Bennet’s work on Democratic Underground has been recognized by the Los Angeles Press Club which named him as a finalist in Online Commentary for the 2007 Southern California Journalism Awards (for which he won Second Prize in 2006).
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