The Blair Pitch Project And Other Blight House Stories

      More cynical posturing from the White House?   Nehhhhhhh-verrrrrr.

      See also this analysis of the Swift Boat Veterans For *ahem* Truth campaign from The Guardian.   It strikes me as being pretty much on point, and it sends a shudder down this blog's spine with its central observations:

There are three things we can learn from this. First, there is no level to which Republicans will not stoop to besmirch a character, belittle an issue or befuddle the electorate. Second, there is no level to which the Democrats will not stoop to attempt to neutralise these attacks. And third, that the Republicans will always win in this race to the bottom because so much less is expected of them and, when it comes to muck-slinging, they have no qualms about getting their hands dirty.

Dear lord, I hope not.   This blog was one of those that believed the Democrats were making a huge mistake in putting so much emphasis on Kerry's Vietnam record (instead of covering the gestalt of his c.v.), and that mistake is bearing poisonous fruit.   The Bushies have learned their lesson from the media: say something often enough and people will believe it, even if it's eventually proven false (c.f., WMD in Iraq, Iraqi involvement with Al Qa'eda); it's the lesson of printing the sensational headline now and publishing a correction later.   Problem is, as we all know, most people don't notice those buried corrections and retractions; they tend to remember the pap they were sold.   And if this doesn't suggest to you one of the fundamental problems with democracy as it now exists, I don't know what will.   Except, perhaps, remembering that the idiot down the road, the bigoted jerk with a nasty proclivity for hitting his children and screaming at his wife, has a vote too.

      ADDENDUM: The Neocons in Washington have come under attack from an unlikely source: Pat Buchanan, of all people.   Go figure.   Strange thing is, many of Buchanan's points are oddly salient, even if normally Buchanan's ideas are usually as offensive as a ripe fart in a small room.

      ADDENDUM ADDENDUM:   Check out Confusion Road's take on the Swifties. Key quote: "If he was a hero, we'd have tried harder to kill him."   Even better is CR's bit on the death of Dick Cheney, which features the oh-so-Bushian words, "I've always known Dick Cheney to be true to his word. I'd trust him a lot more than I'd trust some silly coroner."