US politics

Expose the criminality of the far right

US politics
Published on

Dave Johnson writes about how Republican presidencies have gotten worse over time and how Democrats let them get away with it:

Nixon had to resign for things that Reagan picked up and did from day 1 without apology. Reagan, of course, instructed underlings to violate the law and lie to Congress about it. Bush I used parts of the government to obstruct the Iran/Contra investigations, then pardoned several criminals who had worked for him. And Iran/Contra — and avoiding the mistakes that led to exposure — was the model for the current Bush’s first day in office – with this Bush this proudly hiring convicted (but pardoned by Dad) felons!

Elected Democrats and moderate Republicans keep letting far-Right conspirators off the hook, and failing to expose the true nature of their activities to the public. Perhaps this is because they honestly did not and do not recognize them for what they are. Some of Nixon’s cronies went to jail — none of Reagan/Bush I’s. Worse, the Carter and Clinton administrations did not ask for a full accounting of the transgressions — political and financial — of the prior administrations. In a way, this signaled to the public to expect such activities as part of “business as usual.” By allowing the Right to publicly get away with an “everybody does it” excuse, the legitimacy of our democratic form of government was eroded.

Beltway Kool Kids Klub goes to war!

Media, US politics, War on Iraq
Published on

Steve Gilliard deconstructs the Beltway Kool Kids Klub’s support for the war against Iraq:

[…] But in DC, the shootings scared people beyond reason. People like Dowd and Russert were waiting for an issue to say how American they were. Their Irish Catholic upbringing made them not only moral scolds, but eager to revert to the patriotism of their childhood. Hippie politics and the questioning, challenging education promoted by New York’s Jewish intllectuals (and reflected in public school education) never sat well with them. They liked the time when they only had to believe in certain verities, like priests were good and everyone loved the USA.

The shootings, not, 9/11 made them receptive to Bush’s cowboy movie nationalism. The French, instead of providing wise counsel, were to be ridiculed. The Germans, who took a far more absolute stand, were ignored. The fact that the Blair government has never really recovered from the ramp up to war, also ignored.

Ronald Reagan, freedom fighter

US politics
Published on


Steve Gilliard examines Reagan’s African legacy:

Reagan also embraced Angolan UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi, the puppet of the racist South African regime. He repeatedly refused to back away from him, despite South Africa’s notorious, and it later turned out, mad, racial policies. Not until 1988, when the Cuban army decisively defeat the SADF at Cuito Carnevale in Angola, did the war end. The US turned its back as the South African-sponsored Renamo massacred their way across Mozambique. No one knows how many Africans died in the wars of South Africa, but US complicity with the racist regime of South Africa helped extend their lifespan. At no point did Reagan do anything to stop this.

Ronald Reagan: enemy of the working people

US politics
Published on

Nathan Newman on Reagan’s legacy:

Kerry and the “responsible” Dems can play the bipartisan game that Reagan was not an evil monster, but I won’t. This is a man who supported Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein when it suited his Cold War purposes, then we are expected to forget that thousands died in New York City because this man thought playing “enemy of my enemy is my friend” games wouldn’t lead to consequences. The pit at Ground Zero is Ronald Reagan’s legacy.

But let’s not forget his trade policies. Through the IMF, Reagan promoted structural adjustment programs that demanded that poor nations stop growing food and start growing cash crops to pay off debt to Northern banks. Poverty and malnutrition soared throughout Africa and Latin America. And tied to trade were new requirements that those nations enforce intellectual property laws, especially on prescription drugs, so that if those poor people got sick, they could no longer afford drugs needed to keep them alive.

That Reagan led an assault on labor unions is a given. The PATCO strike and the crushing of the air controllers union was a defining moment of Reagan’s Presidency. The assault on wage levels and health care by employers under Reagan went non-stop and the number of unionized workers plummetted.

Ronald Reagan: at least he acted like a great president

Media, US politics
Published on

Billmon on Ronald Reagan:

In some ways, Reagan’s biggest triumph was the creation an atmosphere of existential crisis, in he could play the stereotypical role of the man on a white horse. He had a brilliant script, written by a new type of PR consultant (Michael Deaver generally gets the top credit) ready to exploit the synergies of the merger between politics and show business. And, like all great myths, it had enough correspondance with the reality of the times to be believable.

But there was always a kind of stage set quality to it – the sense that if you looked behind the facade all you’d find would be plywood and paper mache. The memoirs of many of the administration’s principles – not to mention Richard Morris’s bizarre biography – all reinforce this sense of unreality. On camera, reagan was the Great Communicator. But off camera, he seems to have reverted to a kind of good-natured but mindless passivity – like an actor waiting in his trailer between takes.