Begala on Indictments: Bush's False Moral Superiority
Fri Oct 28, 2005 at 12:25:57 PM PDT
Paul Begala speaks out again on the PlameGate investigation and inditements on
the Huffington Post, and points out that this investigation is showing
just how hollow Bush's Claims of moral superiority have clearly become:
It is not boilerplate to state that those accused are entitled to the presumption of innocence. But that is a legal matter. As a matter of morality, the Bushies are already guilty. Guilty of smearing the Wilson family. Guilty of twisting intelligence. Guilty of lying about the role of White House aides in outing Mrs. Wilson. Guilty of sanctimony and hypocrisy and hubris. Most of all, they are guilty of misleading us into this God-awful war.
More after the flip...
Paul Begala, and probably many of the Clinton administration have probably had to face significant criticisms of their place in the Clinton White House due to the swirling of scandal. This issue was played upon and exaggerated by the bush administration:
And yet George W. Bush campaigned on a pledge to "restore honor and decency to the Oval Office." He spoke of moms and dads on the campaign trail who showed him photos of their children and asked him to give them a president their kids could be proud of.
We all knew what he meant. With a wink and a nod he told us he wouldn't cheat on Laura. And after he took office Mr. Bush and his henchmen smeared the Clintonistas, falsely accusing them of vandalism and theft. They told the press that in this Oval Office the gentlemen would wear suits, the ladies, skirts. And no more paper coffee cups. Nothing but the finest bone china.
However, the Fitzgerald investigation is showing the lie to that premise on the first try - with the Clinton Whitehouse there were years of scandals, with now inditements of senior staff. With the Bush White House, the first investigation leads to inditements - don't have to scratch very hard to find the rot:
The Fitzgerald probe, it should be noted, is the first independent investigation into alleged wrongdoing in the Bush White House. And it has hit paydirt. Contrast that with the dry holes of Whitewater, Filegate, the billing records, Vince Foster's suicide, the cattle futures, the Buddhist temple, and all the rest. Good Lord, Congress even spent two years investigating Clinton's Christmas card list. Just to list the trumped-up Clinton "scandals" is to recall how trivial -- and yet how destructive -- they were. Innocent people were impoverished, reputations were damaged, careers derailed. But at least history can give the Clinton team a clean bill of ethical health. No White House was more thoroughly investigated -- and more thoroughly exonerated. But it's telling that the first time anyone had the courage to scratch the surface of Bush, Inc., he found corruption.
I definitely get the sense that there is a sense of vindication for Paul Begala in this indictments. As he points out, not schadenfreude, but rather the sense that he and his own had been unfaired maligned, and now the nation was starting to see the truth.
From:
In the first year of George W. Bush's presidency, one major media figure told my wife and me to our faces that the difference between the Clinton crowd and the Bush team was that, "They're just better people than you are. They're more loyal to their President, more patriotic, less self-interested and ambitious. They're just better people."
To:
As a matter of morality, the Bushies are already guilty. Guilty of smearing the Wilson family. Guilty of twisting intelligence. Guilty of lying about the role of White House aides in outing Mrs. Wilson. Guilty of sanctimony and hypocrisy and hubris. Most of all, they are guilty of misleading us into this God-awful war.
Vindication sure sounds sweet. Thank you again to Mr. Begala for providing a more personal perspective.
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