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"You lie!"

So the latest talking point by Republicans is that no terror attacks occurred in the United States during the Bush presidency. Over and over they have repeated this revision of history since Christmas. And they do it with a straight face.

I guess the first person I heard it from was Dana Perino, Bush's ditsy last press secretary. Then, Karl Rove, that paragon of honesty, joined in. Several commentators on Fox News, the propaganda arm of the Republican Party, picked up the meme and repeated it ad nauseum.

And now we have Rudy Giuliani - yes, THAT Rudy Giuliani of the "a noun, a verb, and 9/11" presidential campaign - claiming that there were no terroristic attacks on the country during the years 2001 through 2008. And his interviewer, George Stephanopolous, did not say, "What the hell are you talking about?" No, he just sat there and blandly went on to the next question on his script.

That is my main quibble with this story. I no longer expect to hear truth from Republicans, just as I no longer expect them to put the national interest of the country ahead of their own personal political interest. Honorable Republicans from past days, from Abraham Lincoln to Dwight Eisenhower or the irrepressible Everett Dirksen must be lining up at the heavenly precincts requesting to change their party affiliation when they hear these bozos rant.

But just as those old Republicans must be distressed by the depths to which their party has plummeted, what must poor old Edward R. Murrow be thinking of the people that he handed off to when he shuffled off the mortal coil? What a disgrace they are!

Surely they are aware that there were numerous terroristic attacks on this country during the Bush years. Have they forgotten 9/11? Apparently Giuliani has. Have they forgotten the "shoe bomber," the anthrax attacks (which were never solved), the Virginia Tech shooter, the DC snipers, the 2002 attack at the ticket counter at LAX, the UNC SUV attack - well, one could go on, but why bother? Soon, if these Republicans have their way they will all be wiped from the history books and therefore will have never happened.

And since "journalism is the first draft of history," they probably will have their way, because there seems to be no journalist with the courage to jump up and shake his (or her) fist at these prevaricators and yell, "You lie!"

Sometimes I despair for my country. Truly, I do.
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Comments

  1. Susan January 9, 2010 at 6:05 PM

    Do you read the "TYWKIDBI blog:"

    http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2010/01/some-thoughts-about-rudy-giuliani.html

    They also posted about this disgrace.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dorothy BordersJanuary 9, 2010 at 6:53 PM

    I'll take a look at it. Thanks. "Disgrace" is a good word to describe Giuliani - and Stephanopolous, come to that.

    ReplyDelete

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