The View from Blunderstone | Seidl Web

MoveOn Calls for Scott McClellan to Donate Profits of His Tell-all Book

Sat, 31 May 2008 12:30:10 -0400

I almost always agree with MoveOn... but not this time.

I just received an e-mail from MoveOn.org stating:

"Coming clean is admirable. But McClellan shouldn't profit off the role he played in our nation's largest foreign policy blunder."

The message explains that there are laws preventing criminals from profiting by selling their stories and argues that McClellan should, therefore, not make profits from his bestseller book exposing what went on inside the Bush administration.

On this point, I disagree with MoveOn's position. We commonly grant immunity to criminals to testify against larger, more important criminals. Such is the case with McClellan’s book. I am perfectly willing to incentivize him to expose the illegal, incompetent, and dishonest actions of his bosses in the Whitehouse. I wish more “high-ranking underlings” would do the same. The more the public is educated about the Bush administration's lies, crimes, and incompetence, the better off we all will be—and hopefully, the less likely we, as a people, will be so led like lemmings by liars in the future.

Whether McClellan was simply caught up in the current or actively complicit in the administration's blunders, I won't speculate but it's far better to have it all exposed than not. It is naive to believe that high-ranking officials will "come clean" and spend the time an energy necessary to so clearly document their story simply because its the right thing to do. Book royalties are a small price to pay.

Charlie Gibson, George Stephanopoulos, Clowns

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 20:48:55 -0400

The heavy hitters--Charlie (oh, sorry, "Charles") and Geoge--badly embarass themselve as "journalists" in the recent Democratic debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama

Unbelievable. These guys have lost it.

George Stephanopoulos used to have my respect, years ago. Slowly, he began his downhill slide as he moved deeper and deeper into his role as television political talking head. Charlie never really had my respect, but he did not have my scorn. But moderating the most recent debate between Democratic presidential candidate front runners Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, they have become, well, clowns.

Charlie's opening question to the candidates was why not pledge, here and now, that each agree to be the other's running mate, brought the same dumbfounded look to the candidates faces as it did to mine. But they were on the spot; they were front and center in front of millions of people, and they did their level best to respond respectfully and not do what I did... simply role their eyes and mutter, "idiot."

The hard-driving journalist in George chose to focus on why Barack does not wear a flag pin on his jacket. Christ, is that the most important issue we're facing? After 53 minutes seventeen seconds of inane dribble, George finally asked a question about something real, and he lead into the question with, "Let me turn to the economy. That is the number one issue on Americans' minds right now..." prompting John Steward to wittily interject, "... and this is why I decided to wait almost an hour before getting to it."

Just as Fox News has become a shameless propaganda outlet, ABC News has become a tabloid joke.

This society is so koyaanisqatsi that its hard to even know where to begin to fix things. But I know that sitting quietly and letting things happen as they will is not the way.

George and Charlie are clowns. I believe it. If you've read this far, you probably believe it too. Write the networks and let them know. Write the candidates, the political parties, your friends. Don't just sit there.

Email, Fax, and call Obama at (866) 675-2008
Email, Fax, and call Clinton at (703) 469-2008
Email, Fax, and call McCain at (703) 418-2800

So?

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:41:10 -0500

So, it remains blatantly obvious that Dick Cheney and his "boss" have their own agenda, and it has very little to do with what Americans want.

Unbelievable. Not that Dick Cheney would flip a virtual bird at the American public on national television, not that Dick Cheney has been perusing his own private agenda independently of what Americans want, not that his agenda involves using over $562,000,000,000.00 of our money to kill people, not that he has repeatedly and contemptuously violated numerous American laws, but that we continue to let him.

Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in congress should be ashamed of themselves. Anyone who sits complacently by, saying nothing, and allows a small group of ruthless individuals to hijack our government should be ashamed.

Our system of government has built in checks and balances designed to short circuit runaway abuses of power like the one in progress in the Whitehouse. But those systems fail when those with the power to act are complicit, ignorant, or just plain scared.

Why would Nancy Pelosi say that impeachment is off the table? I don't believe she is ignorant. I doubt she is complicit. I do believe she is scared. Scared of losing power and prestige. This administration is ruthless (duh!). They go to great lengths to attack and discredit any serious opponent. My guess is Nancy and many other Democrats in Congress are just plain scared of Dick, Karl, Fox News, and the rest of the gang.

Some say there is too little time left for impeachment. Or that it is a distraction from activities that are truly important. Or that it is a waste of taxpayer money. To each of these I say, "Baloney!" There is still plenty of time for this administration to get us into war with Iran. There is still plenty of time for this administration to commit another $102,000,000,000.00 of taxpayer money to its illegal war. The distraction from these is exactly why both Bush and Cheney should be impeached immediately.

The administration will not be dissuaded by reason, or even the law. But an impeachment would force them to spend much of their time left in office defending themselves. And beyond the purely tactical diversionary benefits, it offers the strategic geopolitical benefit of telling the rest of the world, "This administration is not the face of America; they do not represent us."

It really is not too late to do something. Write a letter, call your representatives, e-mail everyone you know.

The View from Blunderstone | Seidl Web

MoveOn Calls for Scott McClellan to Donate Profits of His Tell-all Book

Charlie Gibson, George Stephanopoulos, Clowns

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So?

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