Monday, May 16, 2005
Right And Wrong In BushCo Land
Yes, my children, we are in the Bizarro World, where people are rewarded for doing wrong and punished for doing right.
The latest example is, of course, the hoo-ha over a recent article by Newsweek's very own Michael "Spikey" Isikoff, the fella who was a conduit for RNC/OIC bottom-feeding sleaze during the War On Clinton.
Note, my children, the following:
-- Newsweek's grovelling over this story is not, repeat, not a "retraction". It's an "apology". In other words, Newsweek isn't saying that the story is wrong, it's just apologizing for hurting BushCo's feelings. [LATE AFTERNOON UPDATE: Newsweek just caved, despite the abundant already-published evidence -- such as in this story from January 2005 -- of such abuse. Just goes to show that even Isikoff's past as the man who put Matt Drudge's bilge into respectable-media play was not enough to shield him when he dared cross the GOP.]
-- BushCo's official comments are that the story was "irresponsible". Not wrong or inaccurate, but "irresponsible". (Translation: It was right, and we're paying the price for it, and we hate paying the price for anything we've ever done.)
It makes sense that Spikey's in trouble for actually doing his job for a change.
Kinda like how Illinois' recent Republican governor, George Ryan, was being defended to the last by his fellow GOPers, despite the massive corruption of his reign. But when he, in a fit of conscience, abolished the death penalty, then they dropped him like a bad habit.
Or like how Tom White was beloved of BushCo while he was running the "illusory profits" arm of Enron, but summarily trashed when, as Army Secretary, he dared oppose the PNAC Platoon's plan to invade Iraq.
In BushCo Land, you are always rewarded for doing the wrong thing and punished for doing the right thing.
[EARLIER UPDATE: Guess what? As Susan Hu notes over at her DailyKos diary on the subject, the stories of Korans being thrown by US interrogators into toilets have been published before -- including a January 2005 Philadelphia Inquirer story that specifically cites this as among the many vile things being done at Guantanamo.
And as blogger The Stranger notes, Muslim clerics don't believe the "apology" -- they think that the original story is the correct one.]
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