Saturday, September 11, 2004
Bush AWOL: Digby sums up the state of play
The summing up:
Read the whole thing.
However, here is Digby's summing up, with which I must disagree:
This is a counsel of despair. Never forget that Clinton's ratings were never higher than when the wingers were impeaching him. If we can get the message through, the American people will hear and understand.
This is perhaps the first time that we have joined battle with the Mighty Wurlitzer and the wingers who transmit their memes into it. They hold the high ground, and we're firing upward. But we have to keep fighting. This is one battle in a long war. Fighting the POTL is tiring. But we're in the right, and we have to remember that.
First, contrary to the malarky that the Wurlitzer began circulating almost immediately, every single so-called anomoly in the douments that made them questionable could have been produced by typewriters in use at the time. The press jumped the gun and the "experts" were wrong.
Second, CBS had every reason to be extremely careful with its quotes on this story. Hodges, the Bush supporter, has every reason to lie about what he told CBS now that the documents have been called into question. His babbling about handwritten vs typewritten makes no sense. He admits that Killian had very high standards and didn't hold with pilots not meeting them. Therefore, it's not reasonable to assume that Hodges saying that he told CBS "if he wrote it, it must be true" is more credible than CBS's original quote. Indeed, it is ridiculous.
Third, the statements of Killian's family are irrelevant compared to the statement of Strong who handled Killian's work documents and others like it at the time. Unless you believe that spouses and children have better direct knowledge of workplace events than co-workers, that is the only conclusion to which you can come.
(via Hullaballo)
Read the whole thing.
However, here is Digby's summing up, with which I must disagree:
This whole pushback by the right, from the blogosphere to the Wurlitzer to the Whitehouse, is absolutely masterful. And, it should give everyone pause if they think there is even a snowball's chance in hell that any member of the Bush administration will ever get justice for the crimes they have committed while in office. Clearly, the press and much of the public are so willing to be used that it is hopeless. This entire episode is nothing but a pathetic reminder of how easily they manipulate perceptions.
We'd better be content to congratulate ourselves for having integrity because it's clear that we do not get any public credit for it. Indeed, we are perceived as being just as bad as they are. If that's the case, does it even matter that we aren't?
This is a counsel of despair. Never forget that Clinton's ratings were never higher than when the wingers were impeaching him. If we can get the message through, the American people will hear and understand.
This is perhaps the first time that we have joined battle with the Mighty Wurlitzer and the wingers who transmit their memes into it. They hold the high ground, and we're firing upward. But we have to keep fighting. This is one battle in a long war. Fighting the POTL is tiring. But we're in the right, and we have to remember that.