THIS FAR AND NO FURTHER
A Timeline of Events Surrounding the Radical Right's Attempt to Subvert American Democracy
Written and Compiled by Black Max
They Said It:
The Scandals of the Bush Presidency
This section will not even attempt to give any sort of comprehensive overview of the myriad scandals that have defined the Bush presidency since 2000 -- when Bush was given the office in direct defiance of constitutional law and against the will of the people. Suffice it to say that, in my relatively well-informed judgment, there is no comparison in American history that equates with what the Bush administration has done to the country it purports to represent. Historians must go back to the most corrupt of the ancient Roman emperors to find a potentate with the same level of incompetence and contempt for his subjects as Bush and his officials.
Instead, this section will just round up a few general observations about the climate of scandal engendered by the Bush presidency. For details on this or that abrogation of constitutional law, republican democracy, or fundamental human decency perpetuated on the citizens of the United States by Bush and his cohorts, just start...well, anywhere in this site and start reading.
"Instead of the function of governing, for which it is radically unfit, the proper office of a representative assembly is to watch and control the government: to throw the light of publicity on its acts: to compel a full exposition and justification of all of them which any one considers questionable; to censure them if found condemnable, and, if the men who compose the government abuse their trust, or fulfill it in a manner which conflicts with the deliberate sense of the nation, to expel them from office, and either expressly or virtually appoint their successors." -- John Stuart Mill
Glenn Greenwald, one of the most thoughtful and well-informed bloggers currently working, makes the following observation. He writes, on March 25, 2007, about how differently the US attorney scandal is being treated by Congress than the raft of scandals that have been "whiffed" before, but his comment is applicable across the board. Greenwald writes, "In the past, this is how every scandal transpired:
- Questions about administration conduct are raised.
- Administration denies wrongdoing.
- Administration officials selectively and voluntarily disclose exculpatory documents, appear before Congress, assure everyone that safeguards are in place, deny wrongdoing, and claim the conduct in question is used only for proper purposes (e.g., protecting country again terrorism).
- Administration followers -- led by those controlling Congress -- insist that no investigation is needed because Official X made clear that there are safeguards in place protecting us and everything is being done for proper purposes.
- Congressional Republicans block Congressional investigations, compel no disclosure of evidence, do nothing to investigate administration claims.
- Scandal ends, unresolved.
"That pattern has repeated itself over and over and over for six years now -- from controversies over secret and illegal surveillance programs to torture, black sites and rendition. In the US attorneys case, everything proceeded according to script -- Alberto Gonazles did what he and other Bush officials always do: namely, issue false statements about what they did in order to conceal their wrongdoing and mislead everyone about what our government is doing. And had it not been for the forced disclosure of internal DOJ emails and other documents -- something which never would have occurred prior to the November, 2006 election -- the same thing here would have happened: namely, Alberto Gonzales and top DOJ officials would have lied about what they did and nobody would have been able to prove that. Congressional Republicans would have blocked all investigations, insisting that we can trust the Attorney General, and Gonzales would have proceeded blithely along, having lied to Congress and the country with total impunity." -- Glenn Greenwald
