The President Who Cried "Wolf!"
Here's the problem with "lying" or
fudging the truth when you are President of the United States. Once you are
caught in a lie -- particularly about national security issues -- who can ever
believe you again? It's like the boy who cried "Wolf!" one too many times, and
the townspeople would not believe him when the wolf truly
was at the
door. President Bush's lies about the WMDs now make it impossible for most of us
to believe him or anyone in his cabinet when they try to call attention to
potential danger.
Here's the problem with "lying" or fudging the
truth when you are President of the United States. Once you are caught in a lie
-- particularly about national security issues -- who can ever believe you
again?
It's like the boy who cried "Wolf!" one too many times, and the townspeople would not believe him when the wolf truly was at the door. President Bush's lies about the WMDs now make it impossible for most of us to believe him or anyone in his cabinet when they try to call attention to potential danger.
The fact that Bush lied -- or at the very least distorted reality -- in order to persuade Americans that they had no choice but to go to war with Iraq has made suspect any future claims of danger -- no matter how real those claims may be.
Yesterday Attorney General John Ashcroft claimed that the United States could be the target of a major terrorist threat some time this summer. As is clear from a New York Times article today, there are a lot of people who question the reasons for Ashcroft's warning -- including people (apparently) in the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. It appears to be a ploy to distract Americans from Bush's downward ratings spiral.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one questioning this so-called threat.
The problem is, every time the Bush administration pulls a stunt like this, its credibility sinks lower and lower. And that is bound to put this country into serious danger. Because when the real threat comes, nobody will believe the administration until after the fact.
And then people will wonder whether the administration actually staged the attack.
The act of lying to the American public about national security threats by a highly placed Administration official -- or even merely distorting the truth -- ought to be a treasonous (and therefore impeachable) offense ... because those lies put us in greater danger.
President Bush and his cabinet will never be able to restore credibility to his administration. That is why, regardless of your political persuasion, patriotism requires that you turn them all out of office.
Our national security depends on it.
It's like the boy who cried "Wolf!" one too many times, and the townspeople would not believe him when the wolf truly was at the door. President Bush's lies about the WMDs now make it impossible for most of us to believe him or anyone in his cabinet when they try to call attention to potential danger.
The fact that Bush lied -- or at the very least distorted reality -- in order to persuade Americans that they had no choice but to go to war with Iraq has made suspect any future claims of danger -- no matter how real those claims may be.
Yesterday Attorney General John Ashcroft claimed that the United States could be the target of a major terrorist threat some time this summer. As is clear from a New York Times article today, there are a lot of people who question the reasons for Ashcroft's warning -- including people (apparently) in the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. It appears to be a ploy to distract Americans from Bush's downward ratings spiral.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one questioning this so-called threat.
The problem is, every time the Bush administration pulls a stunt like this, its credibility sinks lower and lower. And that is bound to put this country into serious danger. Because when the real threat comes, nobody will believe the administration until after the fact.
And then people will wonder whether the administration actually staged the attack.
The act of lying to the American public about national security threats by a highly placed Administration official -- or even merely distorting the truth -- ought to be a treasonous (and therefore impeachable) offense ... because those lies put us in greater danger.
President Bush and his cabinet will never be able to restore credibility to his administration. That is why, regardless of your political persuasion, patriotism requires that you turn them all out of office.
Our national security depends on it.
Posted: Thu - May 27, 2004 at 10:45 AM
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About The Author
My name is Georgia NeSmith. "Random Acts of Love" is my weblog, but I have numerous other websites you can link to through this blog. "Random Acts of Love" began in February, 2004, and I have been posting to it fairly steadily ever since, although there are a few months when illness and other issues have kept me away. I write about nearly everything under the sun. I also do a lot of photography and digital art and I teach journalism online. Recently I've also started posting videos to YouTube.
When I am not doing that, I am trouble-shooting Mac computer issues. Oh, yeah. I also do a lot of community activism. (Can anyone say ADD? I call it AEG -- "attention excess gift.")
I hope you enjoy reading what you find here, and that you will respond to the things you like (and argue with me over things you don't!). You can e-mail me directly from the "Feedback" link that is included with every post.
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Quotes
"The difficult I'll do right now
The impossible will take a little while."
-- From "Crazy, He Calls Me"
written by: Bob Russell / Carl Sigman
Sung by Billie Holiday
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all..."
-- Emily Dickinson
"In our sleep, pain, which we cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God.
-- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
-- From "Crazy, He Calls Me"
written by: Bob Russell / Carl Sigman
Sung by Billie Holiday
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all..."
-- Emily Dickinson
"In our sleep, pain, which we cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God.
-- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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