Buzzflash Editorial: The Bush Cartel has its own form
of Omerta, and every one of its appointees is in
office because Bush has the goods on them -- and they
have the goods on Bush. The only three groups of
people capable of exposing Bush Cartel wrong doings
and prosecuting the Bush "perps" are controlled by
Bush or are long-term Republican hacks: The Congress,
the Attorney General's Office and the Federal
Judiciary (with the Supreme Court as the back-up.)
With Bush's second coronation, he is the law.
We are no longer a nation of laws to which the
president is held accountable. Alberto Gonzales, who
will ensure that no significant Bush figure is
indicted or seriously investigated for the multiple
crimes that have already been committed -- and will
inevitably occur -- has stated that the President
alone can decide when to break the law and have people
tortured, and when to thumb his nose at treaties.
Remember that is was Gonzales, who as Bush's personal
lawyer in his Texas days, got Bush off serving on a
jury so that he wouldn't have to admit that he had
been arrested for drunken driving…
The Godfather, the King: They both see themselves as
THE law, not just above it. Such it is with the
Kennebunkport Political Crime Cartel. Their loyalty is
to themselves. We are just the innocent bystanders and
bankers of their wasteful, failed endeavors.
It's not our money.
It's not our media
It's not our law.
Those have been seized and usurped by a failed
bloodline that has mistaken its incompetence for
divine indulgence.
Over such violations of human rights a revolution was
started in 1776.
If democracy in America has had its peaks and valleys
over this nation's history, surely this time we have
reached the nadir.
Karen Kwiatkowski, Lt. Col. USAF (ret.), Military
Week: Looking forward to a gala second inaugural ball,
Mr. Bush is one happy man.
The administration has many things to celebrate. No –
none, nada, zilch – weapons of mass destruction or
programs producing them were ever found in Iraq,
despite literally hundreds of White House promoted
statements about dangerous weapons, weapons systems,
weapons stockpiles, weapons technologies, gases,
diseases – the list goes on.
Isn't that a good thing? Most of the world's
intelligence gathering agencies, including many parts
of our own, as well as thinking people everywhere,
looked upon the administration's statements in 2002
and 2003 with healthy skepticism. These observers were
proven correct, of course.
It is indeed a happy time. A few weeks after the
President called off the search for WMD in Iraq he
announced that there was "no reason to hold any
administration officials accountable for mistakes or
misjudgments in prewar planning or managing the
violent aftermath."
Instead, the President believes that his
administration already had an "accountability moment."
Please, no blinking! That moment was the re-election
of George W. Bush…
Americans were all too willing to trust those men in
suits, armed as they were with a willingness to say
anything, to justify anything, and an agenda on Iraq
that to this day they are unwilling to share publicly.
• A need to permanently shift the American military
presence from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and even Turkey
into a perfectly located Iraq, using long-term leases
signed with the Iraqi puppet government to permit
their construction.
• A desire to "Do It Their Way" in the inevitable
post-sanctions Iraq investment free-for-all, something
stubborn former ally Saddam Hussein would have never
permitted.
• A need for oil to remain dominantly a dollar
commodity, something Saddam Hussein quietly undermined
with his switch to the euro in November 2000. After
Bush toppled Saddam Hussein, his first executive order
on Iraq switched it back.
But that's all so 2002 and 2003. It's time to
celebrate! As ballrooms and parade grounds are
prepared and decorated, funded by hundreds of donors
interested in a lot more of what George W. Bush can
deliver (Iraq as the perfect bling bling), the "moment
of accountability" has come and gone. The
administration passed with flying colors, and none of
the miscreants lost their job…I'm sure the inaugural
ball will be a smashing success. One wonders if
George W. Bush and his crowd of ambitious retainers
would, in a quiet moment, consider the Army and Marine
fashions for the coming year – body armor, backless
hospital gowns, gauze and bandages, and of course, the
perfectly efficient body bag.
George W. Bush has visited few of the injured, and he
has attended none of the funerals. Instead, he has
clamped down on news and images of these, hoping to
protect his refined sensitivities. Such staid, serious
events, those hospital visits and funerals. All the
sadness and misery and guilt. It's just so ... last
year…
Like a modern Marie Antoinette, the Bush
administration in 2005 gaily throws a glittering party
and says "Let them dance."
Greg Palast: Our President said, "It is the policy of
the United States to seek and support the growth of
democratic movements and institutions in every
nation." Well, no, it isn't.
Our President said, "We will widen retirement savings
and health insurance." No, he won't.
Our President said, "America will not pretend that
jailed dissidents prefer their chains." Yes, he will.
Our President said, "And our country must abandon all
the habits of racism." Oh, sure.
He doesn't believe a single word he's saying. And all
over America, everyone knows he's lying and America is
truly relieved.
America doesn't want to give up the habit of racism.
Karl Rove doesn't. Jeb Bush doesn't. If not for
challenging hundreds of thousands of voters in Black
precincts of Ohio and other swing states, if not for
purging thousands more from voter rolls for the crime
of voting while Black, you wouldn't be president now,
would you, Mr. President?
Elizabeth Shogren, LA Times: As President Bush was
taking the oath of office at noon Thursday, Amy
Caudill, 24, marched down 16th Street toward the White
House, carrying the front of a mock coffin draped with
an American flag. Caudill hoped to send the message
that many loyal Americans adamantly opposed Bush and
the war in Iraq…
At demonstrations scattered around the city, along
long stretches of the parade route and even in
downtown subway stations, protesters often seemed more
prevalent than Bush supporters.
They appeared to have achieved their goal of making
their presence known both to the president, who has
rarely come close to protesters in four years in
office, and to the American public.
They shouted chants of "Bring them home," "Liar!" and
"Peace now!" and carried homemade signs with slogans
like "Look, the emperor has no clothes," "He's not my
president," "Who made torture an American value?" and
"Yeehaw is not a foreign policy."
Andy Sullivan, Reuters: Flag-draped coffins and
jeering anti-war protesters competed with pomp and
circumstance on Thursday at the inauguration of
President Bush along the snow-dusted, barricaded
streets of central Washington.
As the president's motorcade made its way down
Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White
House amid the tightest security in inaugural history,
thousands of protesters along the parade route and
nearby downtown streets booed, chanted slogans and
carried placards condemning Bush's policies at home
and abroad.
Some turned their back as the president drove slowly
past. Others yelled, "George Bush, you can't hide. We
charge you with genocide." Among the forest of protest
signs, some read "Blood is on your hands" and "Iraq is
Arabic for Vietnam." Others called for electoral
reform, gay rights, abortion rights and the use of
renewable energy.
"There are a lot of people dying overseas for nothing
and I'm here to get my voice heard," said Bill
Coffelt, 40, an engineer from Fairfax, Va…
One group of protesters carried hundreds of mock
coffins along 16th Street, a downtown thoroughfare
leading to the White House, to remind Americans of the
mounting casualties in Iraq…
"It's beyond comprehension the damage this man has
done," said Meredith Lair, 32, who just completed a
doctorate in history at Pennsylvania State University.
"I think it's horrifying what we're doing to Iraq,"
said Lair, who was carrying a sign that read, "Mr.
Bush, under my mittens I'm giving you the finger."
www.commondreams.org: As George W. Bush gave his
inaugural address in front of the U.S. Capitol, six
women peace activists stood up on their chairs in the
VIP section and shouted “bring the troops home!” The
women also held up banners reading “No War,” “Out of
Iraq Now,” and “Bush Mandate: Troops Home Now.” They
were dragged out of the inaugural ceremony by the
police, and two of the women are still in police
custody…
“The killing in Iraq doesn’t stop because the
inauguration is happening, so our efforts to end the
war and occupation can’t stop either,” said Jodie
Evans, one of the women who spoke out during Bush’s
inaugural address.
“Bush’s occupation of Iraq has led to needless
suffering of US soldiers and Iraqis, increased
anti-American sentiment globally, and has made us less
safe at home. We spoke out because the Bush
administration needs end the occupation of Iraq and
its bellicose policy towards Iran and other nations,
and instead commit the United States to the rule of
law—including the US constitution and bill of rights,
the UN charter and the Geneva conventions,” said Medea
Benjamin, who also spoke out during the inaugural
address and is still in police custody…
The six women who held up banners and chanted in the
VIP section during the president’s inaugural speech
were Diane Wilson 56 years old; Jodie Evans, 50,
Elaine Broadhead, 55, Mara Duncan, 58, Tiffany Burns,
29, and Medea Benjamin 51. They are from California,
Texas, and Washington, DC. Benjamin and Wilson are
being held by the police; the other women have been
released.
An additional ten CODEPINK activists, who were seated
further back in the crowd, also held up banners or
spoke out against the Iraq war inside the inauguration
ceremony. Three men were also held up a banner, and
are being held by the police with Benjamin and Wilson.
www.mediamatters.org: During January 20 inauguration
coverage, hosts and commentators on CNN, MSNBC, and
FOX News ridiculed inauguration protesters; downplayed
their numbers and significance; and implied that they
posed a security threat.
CNN host Wolf Blitzer seemed to ignore fellow host
Judy Woodruff's point that parade watchers generally
had to pay for seats (and therefore likely supported
President Bush), asserting that in contrast with the
protesters -- whom he called "angry, angry people" --
"there are a lot more people who have gathered along
Pennsylvania Avenue who love this president."
Later, Blitzer again downplayed the protesters'
significance: "And we don't want to make too much of
the protesters, because we don't know how many there
were. Certainly, the nature of this business, the
nature of television, we could over-exaggerate based
on the images, and they might just be a tiny, tiny
overall number." A January 21 New York Times article
rebutted Blitzer's assessment, noting that the number
of protesters in the protest-designated space alone
was in the "thousands," and that there were also
protesters interspersed with Bush supporters
throughout the parade route: "The numbers of
protesters along Pennsylvania Avenue might have been
greater, but the swarm of people trying to pass
through security checkpoints made it hard to reach the
parade route quickly."
www.mediamatters.org: Media Matters for America
inventoried all guests who appeared on FOX News, CNN,
and MSNBC during the channels' Jan. 20 inauguration
coverage. Between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Republican and
conservative guests and commentators outnumbered
Democrats and progressives 19 to 7 on FOX, 10 to 1 on
CNN (not including a Republican-skewed panel featuring
Ohio voters), and 13 to 2 on MSNBC. Moreover, the rare
Democrat or progressive guest usually appeared
opposite conservatives, whereas most Republican and
conservative guests and commentators appeared solo or
alongside fellow conservatives.
Thom Hartmann, www.commondreams.org: The Robber Barons
are back. They're staging a celebration of their
power in Washington, DC, where they help write the
majority of legislation and hold captive all but a
very few of our nation's legislators. The television
networks they own are showing the party in all its
pomp and ceremony. The newspapers and magazines they
own are telling us what a fine time is being had by
all in Washington, DC. The radio stations, networks,
and talk show hosts they own are reassuring us that
they know what is best, that all will be well, that
"freedom is on the march."
Every generation, it is often said, must relearn the
lessons of history. This generation is getting a crash
course.
Shall we have a government of, by, and for We, the
People? Or shall we be governed by a powerful elite
made up of the super-rich, multi-national
corporations, and well-paid shills who do their
bidding?
It seems that the shift from FDR's vision of We the
People to Reagan's vision of corporate governance has
only happened in the past thirty years - when Reagan,
in his first inaugural address, declared war on We the
People by saying: "Government is not the solution to
our problem. Government is the problem."
But it's really a battle that's gone back to 1762,
when Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote "The Social
Contract," and directly challenged - for the first
time in nearly two thousand years - the idea that
people must be governed by a powerful father-figure
King, Pope, or Feudal Lord.
"Man was born free," Rousseau opened his book with,
"and he is everywhere in chains." Those chains, he
suggested, were forged by a belief that people's
inherent nature was weak and evil, and people were
incapable of governing themselves. Rousseau - and,
following him, Jefferson, Madison, Washington,
Franklin, and others among our nation's Founders -
rejected the belief that society would disintegrate
without kings, popes, or rule by a rich elite. The
Founder's ideals - although under siege - are still
alive in America…
They live on in the many Americans who support
progressive causes with contributions, send letters to
the editors of their local papers, make calls to talk
shows, attend protest rallies, pamphleteer by email,
correspond with their elected representatives, and
support progressive candidates for office.
They live on with those who mourn George W. Bush's
coronation, who turn their back on him and his
policies, who daily work for social justice, equality,
and a world at peace.
But democracy will only survive in this nation if
people like you and me continue to
stand up, speak out, and keep bringing tea to the
party.
Robert Parry. www.consortiumnews.com: What some
Americans may have found annoying about George W.
Bush’s second Inaugural Address was his use of a
rhetorical device in which he stated obvious truisms
about “freedom” with the suggestion that opponents of
his policies – from invading Iraq to privatizing
Social Security – must be people who hate freedom.
Bush has used this rhetorical technique before, as in
Campaign 2002 when he created the impression that
Senate Democrats who objected to Bush’s version of a
Homeland Security bill were “not interested in the
security of the American people.”
Though employed more subtly in his second Inaugural,
the rhetorical device was back as Bush mixed together
platitudes about “freedom” with oblique references to
both his foreign and domestic policies.
The presidential message seemed to be that Americans
who complain about his defiance of international law
in Iraq, his assertion of near-unlimited presidential
powers in the War on Terror or his plan to revamp the
Social Security system by shifting it toward
individual retirement accounts are not just Bush
opponents but opponents of freedom…
Though TV pundits and newspaper columnists quickly
praised Bush’s address for its lofty tone and supposed
idealism, many Americans surely were wondering why
Bush was subjecting them to this strange lecture.
At one level, Bush may have simply wanted to wrap his
controversial policies – that have included tolerance
of torture and denial of due process to American
citizens he dubs “enemy combatants” – in the cloak of
“freedom.”
But other Americans may have felt that Bush was trying
to maneuver them rhetorically into positions where
their criticism of him could be demonized. Just as
Democratic senators – such as triple-war-amputee Sen.
Max Cleland – became politicians who were “not
interested in the security of the American people” in
2002, now Americans who refuse to follow Bush can be
labeled enemies of “freedom.”
Indeed, the most troubling subtext tucked inside
Bush’s paean to “freedom” may have been that the
ultimate freedom for Americans today is their freedom
to follow him.
Robin Cook, Guardian: Inauguration does not do justice
to the exuberant celebrations of this week. Coronation
would come closer. Washington ended yesterday with
nine official balls. The night before George Bush gave
a new spin to the phrase moveable feast by fitting in
three separate banquets. He then expended as much
ordnance in peppering the sky over the Capitol with
fireworks as would get his occupation forces in Iraq
through a whole 24 hours.
The contrasts between this uninhibited triumphalism
and the real world are as wide as the American
continent. One visible contrast was provided by the
demonstrators camping out on the streets to protest at
such extravagant waste by an administration waging its
own jihad on programmes against poverty on the grounds
that the federal budget cannot afford welfare.
Yesterday, Bush gave a new spin on welfare cuts by
presenting them as progress to an ownership society.
The thousands of wealthy donors to the campaign to
re-elect the president who turned up at those dinners
adore this concept of an ownership society in which
they get hefty tax cuts paid for by the poor who get
their budgets cuts.
Then there is the sharp contrast between the
self-indulgent hubris of the festivity and the fragile
political victory which it celebrated. Bush was
reelected by the smallest margin in 100 years of those
presidents who won a second term. His approval ratings
this week are the lowest ever plumbed by any president
at the date of his inauguration…
Lastly there is the biggest contrast of all between
the smug complacency of the administration over its
electoral victory and the disastrous military failure
of its adventure in Iraq. Since George Bush was
reelected over 200 more US soldiers have been killed
in Iraq…
The lawless background to the forthcoming elections
has imposed whole new dimensions to the concept of a
secret ballot. Most of the candidates will remain a
secret lest they are assassinated. Polling stations
are kept secret by the authorities lest they are blown
up before election day in a week's time…
The president and his speech writers have yet to
confront the tension between their rhetoric about
freedom, which is universally popular, and their
practice of projecting US firepower, which is resented
in equal measure. That explains why, on the very day
when the president set forward his mission to bring
liberty to the world, a poll revealed that a large
majority of its inhabitants believe that he will
actually make it more dangerous. The first indication
of whether they are right to worry will be whether the
Bush administration mediate their differences with
Iran through the state department or through the US
air force.
John Nichols, The Nation: First Lady has always
merited her designation as "the brighter Bush." But,
clearly, she needs to study up on American history.
With concern mounting about the wisdom of the Bush
team's plans for four days of lavish inaugural
festivities, Laura Bush was dispatched to make the
case for the $40 million blowout that was organized to
erase any doubt about who is in charge. Like her
husband and his aides, the First Lady announced her
approval of the ridiculous extravagance that will
accompany what that is starting to look more and more
like a royal coronation. The excess is necessary, she
explained, because big parties at the opening of a
presidential term are "an important part of our
history." "They're a ceremony of our history; they're
a ritual of our government," she said of free-spending
inaugural celebrations, after being asked whether it
was appropriate to spend tens of millions of dollars
on ten different parties at a time when the nation is
at war and much of the world is still recovering from
the tsunami disaster…
In truth, however, only one President has marked his
inauguration in the true spirit of the American
experiment.
That President understood the experiment better than
most because he, Thomas Jefferson, had had such a
central hand in launching it…
On the morning of March 4, 1801, the President-elect
awoke in his small room in Conrad's Boarding House on
Capitol Hill--where he had lived during the past four
years when he served as a dissident Vice President.
After dressing in simple clothes, he went to the
breakfast room and took his usual seat at the table,
declining the offer of a place at the head of the
table that had been made in deference to the fact that
on this day he would be sworn in as the nation's third
President.
Just before noon, Jefferson left Conrad's and walked
through the muddy streets of Washington to the
Capitol, where he was sworn in without pomp or
circumstance. He quietly delivered an inaugural
address..
Jefferson then walked back to his rooming house, where
at dinner time he again refused a place of honor at
the table--displaying not merely in words, but in
deeds, his belief that the President was a servant of
the people, not their better and certainly not their
ruler...
The new President wanted Americans to put behind them
the trappings of their colonial past.
He believed that the age of kings and queens was
ending, while the age of the democracy was beginning.
Jim Harding, Financial Times: As the inaugural
festivities ended on Friday, dissection began on
President George W. Bush's commitment to bury tyranny.
Peggy Noonan, the former speechwriter for President
Ronald Reagan and a self-proclaimed Bush supporter,
voiced the misgivings of many Republicans in Friday's
Wall Street Journal. “It left me with a bad feeling
and reluctant dislike,” she wrote in an editorial
column. The White House authors of a “heaven-ish”,
“God-drenched speech” needed to be reminded that “this
is not heaven, it's earth”, she said.
The speech was “over the top”, she complained, saying
the Bush White House was suffering a case of “mission
inebriation”.
Republicans in the realist camp echoed concerns that
Mr Bush's second inaugural address had handed US
foreign policy over to the neoconservative moralists.
“It was a strong sermon that resonated with calls for
freedom throughout the world and an end to tyranny,
but completely deficient of any guidelines about what
this call for freedom means in practice,” said
Geoffrey Kemp, a former official in the Reagan White
House and now at the Nixon Center. Mr Bush's
commitment to the end of oppressive regimes and “the
expansion of freedom in all the world”, Mr Kemp said,
amounted to a challenge not only to America's chosen
enemies, but to some strategic partners, including
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and even Uzbekistan.
The remarks also raise questions about Washington's
future dealings with Russia and China, which
apparently puts in doubt “the campaign for nuclear
non-proliferation and. . . the very solvency of the US
economy”, he said.
Robert Novak, the conservative columnist, reported on
Friday: “The Bush speech did not even please all
members of his own political base. . . To some
orthodox conservatives, Bush's message sounded too
much like Woodrow Wilson or neoconservative diehards.”
Pat Buchanan, the former presidential candidate and
the most outspoken representative of the Republicans'
shrinking isolationist wing, was appalled.
“It is utterly utopian. He is giving out IOUs that
this country and its military cannot honour,” he said
Friday. “Rhetorically, it commits America to do more
than America has the resources or power to do. . . it
commits America not to permanent peace but to
permanent war, and wars are the deaths of republics.”
Black Thursday, 1/20/05: Widespread Resistance to A
National Tragedy and An International Disgrace
BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
http://www.buzzflash.com/alerts/05/01/ale05020.html
The Kennebunkport Corleone WASPs Seize Firm Control of
America Inc. on Inauguration Day, 2005
Note: This marks the 20th of 20 consecutive editorials
BuzzFlash will be publishing through January 20th.
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
The Bush Cartel has its own form of Omerta, and every
one of its appointees is in office because Bush has
the goods on them -- and they have the goods on Bush.
The only three groups of people capable of exposing
Bush Cartel wrong doings and prosecuting the Bush
"perps" are controlled by Bush or are long-term
Republican hacks: The Congress, the Attorney General's
Office and the Federal Judiciary (with the Supreme
Court as the back-up.)
With Bush's second coronation, he is the law.
We are no longer a nation of laws to which the
president is held accountable. Alberto Gonzales, who
will ensure that no significant Bush figure is
indicted or seriously investigated for the multiple
crimes that have already been committed -- and will
inevitably occur -- has stated that the President
alone can decide when to break the law and have people
tortured, and when to thumb his nose at treaties.
Remember that is was Gonzales, who as Bush's personal
lawyer in his Texas days, got Bush off serving on a
jury so that he wouldn't have to admit that he had
been arrested for drunken driving.
Gonzales's job is simple: do what Bush wants and
protect anyone else who does it at a senior level.
Ignore the Constitution, because Bush is the sole
decision maker of divinely inspired "law," even if it
places us, as a nation, at the level of savages.
The Democrats will mostly vote for Gonzales and seal
their own legal political death warrant. After eight
years of a Republican Circus that hijacked our legal
process to try and unseat Clinton over a blow job, the
Republicans will get away with the darkest violations
of the law, because Gonzales is a loyal court servant
-- and if he were to bring Bush down, Gonzales knows
that he will end up in the docket, too.
What is true for Gonzales is true for all the lead
players in this organized crime political family that
uses its decadent bloodline as its armor of integrity
whenever confronted with the illegality, lies and
barbarity of its actions.
Condi Rice got all indignant when Barbara Boxer held
her accountable for her actions, accusing the Senator
of attacking her "integrity." Oh, Condi learned well
from her mentor. When your only success is failure,
play the "integrity" card.
In August of 2001, as BuzzFlash has often written,
Rice and Bush were warned that Al Qaeda was planning
to hijack planes in the United States in the near
future. Bush went off to drink a few brews down in
Texas (along with a few of those faux "I cut the brush
like a Marlboro Man" photo-ops) and Condi ignored the
warning. She said that they weren't warned of planes
being flown into buildings, so she didn't need to do
anything special.
As BuzzFlash has repeated again and again, without
making any impression on the brain dead mainstream
press, the way you prevent a hijacking that results in
planes being flown into buildings is the same way you
prevent hijackings: You send out an alert and make it
a high priority White House crisis management
situation to prevent hijackings. But those were
apparently two dots too difficult for the National
Security Advisor of the United States to connect, let
alone our "Pet Goat" President. What we needed was a
second grader as our NSA and a third grader as our
President. Then maybe 9/11 wouldn't have occurred.
And now "Ms. Integrity," the one who was at the center
of the White House wing of the pre-Iraq War deception
campaign, coordinating it with the Defense Department,
and leaving Dick Cheney to pressure the CIA to go
along with the bogus fear hype, will be our Secretary
of State. Like the Bushes, she's an individual whose
ambition has far exceeded her ability -- and were she
to turn on the Bushes, they would leak her illegal
deeds to the press so fast it would make you forget
Valerie Plame, whom you probably already have.
Yes, if anything symbolized how the Bush Kennebunkport
Corleone family cares about itself before our national
security, it was the exposing of a CIA analyst who
specialized in the tracking of illicit sales of WMDs.
Rove and Bush wanted to let any American intelligence
analyst know that loyalty to the Bush Cartel came
before loyalty to the country -- and they would make
us less secure to prove their point. In short, "we
don't give a sh** if it harms the country, your first
loyalty is to George, not the nation."
If this sounds a bit like how the mafia works, you're
right.
Do you really think that Michael Chertoff is the best
person in America to head the Department of Homeland
Security? Of course not, he's another loyal senior
"made man" in the Bush Kennebunkport Cartel, having
proved his bonafides in working for Ken Starr and also
arguing, while working for Ashcroft, for the illegal
detention of people based on ethnic background. The
guy is going to make decisions that are in the
interest of the Kennebunkport Cartel first and
foremost. What about America, the Constitution, and
our personal safety? Oh, how naive you are!
As Rick Perlstein, a Village Voice journalist who
inspired this editorial, noted:
At that pass, reflects John Dean, Richard Nixon's
legal counsel, who served time for Watergate, "only
the attorney general can select a special counsel to
prosecute." Which takes us back to the beginning, and
last week's hearings. "As attorney general," Dean
says, "Gonzales can resist any and all efforts to
prosecute high officials of the Bush administration,
absent photographs of Dick Cheney choking Condi Rice
and dangling her off the Memorial Bridge for messing
with his policies."
The Godfather, the King: They both see themselves as
THE law, not just above it.
Such it is with the Kennebunkport Political Crime
Cartel. Their loyalty is to themselves.
We are just the innocent bystanders and bankers of
their wasteful, failed endeavors.
It's not our money.
It's not our media
It's not our law.
Those have been seized and usurped by a failed
bloodline that has mistaken its incompetence for
divine indulgence.
Over such violations of human rights a revolution was
started in 1776.
If democracy in America has had its peaks and valleys
over this nation's history, surely this time we have
reached the nadir.
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/05/01/edi05022.html
Published on Friday, January 21, 2005 by the Los
Angeles Times
Mock Coffins, Real Anger
Protesters Come from Across the Country to March,
Chant and Turn their Backs on the Inaugural
Festivities for a President They Oppose
by Elizabeth Shogren
WASHINGTON — As President Bush was taking the oath of
office at noon Thursday, Amy Caudill, 24, marched down
16th Street toward the White House, carrying the front
of a mock coffin draped with an American flag. Caudill
hoped to send the message that many loyal Americans
adamantly opposed Bush and the war in Iraq.
"There are a lot of people who are proud, frustrated
and patriotic at the same time," said Caudill, a
student at the State University of New York at Albany,
who was one of thousands of antiwar protesters who
marched and lined the route of the inaugural parade.
At demonstrations scattered around the city, along
long stretches of the parade route and even in
downtown subway stations, protesters often seemed more
prevalent than Bush supporters.
They appeared to have achieved their goal of making
their presence known both to the president, who has
rarely come close to protesters in four years in
office, and to the American public.
They shouted chants of "Bring them home," "Liar!" and
"Peace now!" and carried homemade signs with slogans
like "Look, the emperor has no clothes," "He's not my
president," "Who made torture an American value?" and
"Yeehaw is not a foreign policy."
Most demonstrators were peaceful, but police used
pepper spray and water cannons to quell unruly
protesters stuck outside security checkpoints trying
to get to the parade route.
U.S. Park Police arrested four women who crossed
police lines along the parade route and disrobed to
protest the wearing of furs, according to U.S. Park
Police Sgt. Scott Fear.
Washington police arrested three people, two in
assaults on police officers and another who allegedly
set a bonfire, said officer Quintin Peterson.
Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the Code Pink: Women for
Peace antiwar group, and two other protesters were
jailed after they unfurled a banner that said "Out of
Iraq" and chanted "Bring home the troops" while in a
VIP section along the parade route, according to June
Brashares, who works with Benjamin at Global Exchange,
a human-rights organization in San Francisco.
Some Bush supporters were furious that demonstrators
tried to spoil the patriotic pageant. But others were
happy to share sidewalks and subways with people who
were chanting antiwar and anti-Bush slogans, even as
the president's limousine passed by.
"I think this is what makes the country great," said
Laura Flaherty, 45, a Bush supporter and high school
social studies teacher from Columbus, Ohio, who
brought 40 students to the inauguration. "They have as
much right to be here as we do."
The protesters came from across the country. They
included a Jamaican immigrant from Brooklyn whose
grandson was fighting in Iraq, a 46-year-old lawyer
from Sacramento who called the president inept and a
38-year-old woman from Virginia who dressed as Jesus.
"Jesus would be opposed to this war and most of what
this administration stands for," said Tara White, a
graduate student at Old Dominion University, in
Norfolk, Va., who wore a crown of thorns and a white
robe.
White joined a hodgepodge of several thousand
protesters who gathered at Meridian Hill Park, also
known as Malcolm X Park, and marched about two miles
down 16th Street, stopping a few blocks short of the
White House.
They carried dozens of coffins draped in flags or
black cloth to draw attention to the more than 1,300
U.S. military service members who had died in the Iraq
war.
But the biggest protest was along the parade route.
For several blocks toward the beginning, protesters
far outnumbered supporters. They were sprinkled
throughout the crowd along much of the rest of the
route and again made up the majority of the crowd near
Freedom Plaza, a few blocks from the White House.
Answer Coalition, an antiwar group, was given a permit
to congregate and set up bleachers near the start of
the parade route. As the president's limousine
approached, riot police stood shoulder-to-shoulder in
a human barricade. Many in the group chanted: "Racist,
sexist, anti-gay, Bush and Cheney go away!" Others,
including Ryan Rebarchick, simply turned their backs
toward the limousine.
"I can't respect him at all," said Rebarchick, 23, a
waitress. "He has done so many things wrong — with the
war and the rest of his policies — that he doesn't
deserve to be president."
Jane Myers an elementary school teacher, came from
Gainesville, Fla., despite a broken foot.
"Nothing was going to stop me," she said. "I was too
poor and young to protest in the 1960s, so now that
I'm 60, and I have a little money, I came to protest
the war."
Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times
Mock Coffins and Jeers as Bush Sworn In
By Andy Sullivan
Reuters
Friday 21 January 2005
Washington - Flag-draped coffins and jeering anti-war
protesters competed with pomp and circumstance on
Thursday at the inauguration of President Bush along
the snow-dusted, barricaded streets of central
Washington.
As the president's motorcade made its way down
Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White
House amid the tightest security in inaugural history,
thousands of protesters along the parade route and
nearby downtown streets booed, chanted slogans and
carried placards condemning Bush's policies at home
and abroad.
Some turned their back as the president drove
slowly past. Others yelled, "George Bush, you can't
hide. We charge you with genocide." Among the forest
of protest signs, some read "Blood is on your hands"
and "Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam." Others called for
electoral reform, gay rights, abortion rights and the
use of renewable energy.
"There are a lot of people dying overseas for
nothing and I'm here to get my voice heard," said Bill
Coffelt, 40, an engineer from Fairfax, Va.
Protesters also traded insults with the more
numerous, cheering Bush supporters, many of whom wore
fur coats and paid for the best viewing spots at the
first inaugural parade since the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks.
In one area, police briefly sought to disperse
with pepper spray demonstrators who hurled bottles,
trash and snowballs at officers while trying to break
through a security fence holding them back from the
parade.
At least one snowball hit Vice President Dick
Cheney's limousine, and Bush's limousine sped up to
get past the commotion.
One group of protesters carried hundreds of mock
coffins along 16th Street, a downtown thoroughfare
leading to the White House, to remind Americans of the
mounting casualties in Iraq.
And an American flag was set alight just outside a
security checkpoint at 13th and Pennsylvania.
"It's beyond comprehension the damage this man has
done," said Meredith Lair, 32, who just completed a
doctorate in history at Pennsylvania State University.
"I think it's horrifying what we're doing to Iraq,"
said Lair, who was carrying a sign that read, "Mr.
Bush, under my mittens I'm giving you the finger."
Isolated Scuffles
Police said there were at least 13 arrests, two
for assaulting an officer and the rest for disorderly
conduct or other violations. One was a man who
embarrassed police four years ago by sneaking past
security to get a handshake from Bush. He did not get
a chance for another grip this inauguration.
Police also scuffled with about 30 protesters two
streets away from the parade route, using pepper spray
and batons to disperse the group of self-styled
anarchists, who wore bandannas to hide their faces.
"He (Bush) says he's bringing freedom to the
world, and we're getting pepper-sprayed for our First
Amendment rights. That's kind of ironic," said
22-year-old Dustin, who works for the National
Institutes of Health and did not want to give his full
name.
Just outside the White House grounds, 17
protesters staged a "die-in." After shouting a chant
of "Stop the killing, stop the war," they dropped to
the pavement one by one as one of them began reading a
list of those killed in Iraq.
One spectator apparently found the act so credible
that he began administering CPR. Others were less
sympathetic.
"I hope you don't get up. I hope you freeze your
ass off," said another, who was among a group heading
toward the parade-viewing grandstands nearest the
White House.
Throughout the city, thousands of police and
military troops were on patrol with bomb-sniffing
dogs, and spectators had to pass through metal
detectors before attending any inaugural events or
heading to the parade.
Police sealed off 100 blocks around the White
House and parade route, barring all traffic except
official security and police cars.
Demonstration organizers had complained they were
not being given adequate access to protest, while Bush
supporters were granted prime locations along the
parade route.
Women Peace Activists Dragged Out of Inauguration
Ceremony by the Police
Members of CodePink: Women for Peace Unfurl Banners
and Speak Out Against the Iraq War During George
Bush’s Inaugural Address
WASHINGTON -- January 20 -- As George W. Bush gave his
inaugural address in front of the U.S. Capitol, six
women peace activists stood up on their chairs in the
VIP section and shouted “bring the troops home!” The
women also held up banners reading “No War,” “Out of
Iraq Now,” and “Bush Mandate: Troops Home Now.” They
were dragged out of the inaugural ceremony by the
police, and two of the women are still in police
custody.
“The killing in Iraq doesn’t stop because the
inauguration is happening, so our efforts to end the
war and occupation can’t stop either,” said Jodie
Evans, one of the women who spoke out during Bush’s
inaugural address.
“Bush’s occupation of Iraq has led to needless
suffering of US soldiers and Iraqis, increased
anti-American sentiment globally, and has made us less
safe at home. We spoke out because the Bush
administration needs end the occupation of Iraq and
its bellicose policy towards Iran and other nations,
and instead commit the United States to the rule of
law—including the US constitution and bill of rights,
the UN charter and the Geneva conventions,” said Medea
Benjamin, who also spoke out during the inaugural
address and is still in police custody.
Evans and Benjamin are co-founders of the national
women’s peace group, CODEPINK, which has 90 chapters
throughout the United States and the world. CODEPINK
is known for its creative and bold approach to
anti-war activism, and for its members’ success in
interrupting prime time speeches three nights in a row
during the Republican National Convention in New York
City. Evans and Benjamin have both traveled to Iraq
several times to witness first-hand the reality of the
occupation.
The six women who held up banners and chanted in the
VIP section during the president’s inaugural speech
were Diane Wilson 56 years old; Jodie Evans, 50,
Elaine Broadhead, 55, Mara Duncan, 58, Tiffany Burns,
29, and Medea Benjamin 51. They are from California,
Texas, and Washington, DC. Benjamin and Wilson are
being held by the police; the other women have been
released.
An additional ten CODEPINK activists, who were seated
further back in the crowd, also held up banners or
spoke out against the Iraq war inside the inauguration
ceremony. Three men were also held up a banner, and
are being held by the police with Benjamin and Wilson.
On Wednesday night, CODEPINK co-sponsored a protest
outside the “Black Tie and Boots” inaugural ball,
where peace and justice activists chanted, “End the
Celebration, Stop the Occupation” and “The champagne
is flying, while soldiers are dying.”
Hundreds of counter-inaugural events are being held
throughout the country this week, in what many are
calling the “other” inauguration: the inauguration of
the second term of the anti-war movement.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0120-06.htm
http://militaryweek.com/withoutreservation.shtml
LINKS TO MORE ARTICLES BY COL. KWIATKOWSKI
Without Reservation
A biweekly column by Karen Kwiatkowski, Lt. Col. USAF
(ret.)
posted 17 January 05
Ball Gowns and Hospital Gowns
Looking forward to a gala second inaugural ball, Mr.
Bush is one happy man.
The administration has many things to celebrate. No –
none, nada, zilch – weapons of mass destruction or
programs producing them were ever found in Iraq,
despite literally hundreds of White House promoted
statements about dangerous weapons, weapons systems,
weapons stockpiles, weapons technologies, gases,
diseases – the list goes on.
Isn't that a good thing? Most of the world's
intelligence gathering agencies, including many parts
of our own, as well as thinking people everywhere,
looked upon the administration's statements in 2002
and 2003 with healthy skepticism. These observers were
proven correct, of course.
It is indeed a happy time. A few weeks after the
President called off the search for WMD in Iraq he
announced that there was "no reason to hold any
administration officials accountable for mistakes or
misjudgments in prewar planning or managing the
violent aftermath."
Instead, the President believes that his
administration already had an "accountability moment."
Please, no blinking! That moment was the re-election
of George W. Bush.
He's right, of course. While only slightly over half
of the votes last November went to George W. Bush, and
less than half of Americans today believe the war in
Iraq was either necessary, prudent or in America's
interest, I recall a time in late 2002 and early 2003
when I was still in the Pentagon reading the news, the
policy papers and watching the President,
Vice-President, Secretaries Rumsfeld and Powell wax
eloquent on, well, all those things of which we no
longer speak.
Americans were all too willing to trust those men in
suits, armed as they were with a willingness to say
anything, to justify anything, and an agenda on Iraq
that to this day they are unwilling to share publicly.
• A need to permanently shift the American military
presence from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and even Turkey
into a perfectly located Iraq, using long-term leases
signed with the Iraqi puppet government to permit
their construction.
• A desire to "Do It Their Way" in the inevitable
post-sanctions Iraq investment free-for-all, something
stubborn former ally Saddam Hussein would have never
permitted.
• A need for oil to remain dominantly a dollar
commodity, something Saddam Hussein quietly undermined
with his switch to the euro in November 2000. After
Bush toppled Saddam Hussein, his first executive order
on Iraq switched it back.
But that's all so 2002 and 2003. It's time to
celebrate! As ballrooms and parade grounds are
prepared and decorated, funded by hundreds of donors
interested in a lot more of what George W. Bush can
deliver (Iraq as the perfect bling bling), the "moment
of accountability" has come and gone. The
administration passed with flying colors, and none of
the miscreants lost their job.
It is a happy new year for the Bush administration,
and this week we'll see the loveliest of parties in
downtown Washington. Afterwards, sated and smiling,
they will say, "we could have danced all night."
Others, not far from the festivities in Washington, at
Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed and Fort
Belvoir, and in military and civilian hospitals across
the country and in Germany, won't be having the same
happy New Year. The half a million serving soldiers
and Marines who have already seen time in Iraq, many
with more than one tour in hell, and the almost
160,000 there now, are not having such a great year.
The 25,000 mentally or physically injured who have
been returned from what we now understand as the
unnecessary but politically-demanded recreational
fields of battle in Iraq are not dancing on air. The
over 11,000 seriously injured are spending their time
learning how to adapt to crippling, blinding and
disfiguring injuries, and how to use their new
prosthetics instead of perfecting their waltz, rumba,
and line-dance technique. The almost 1,500 soldiers
and marines who have died in Iraq, like the 100,000
dead Iraqis, are blessedly unaware of the gala
celebrations in Washington.
Buying ball gowns – spending lots of money on an
expensive and gratuitous trifle, doing so with the
help of the enthusiastic exaggeration of imaginative
and pushy salespeople, emotion and desire trumping
practicality and logic – is something the Bush
administration celebrators and donors have been doing
for almost four years.
They are quite good at it. I'm sure the inaugural ball
will be a smashing success. One wonders if George W.
Bush and his crowd of ambitious retainers would, in a
quiet moment, consider the Army and Marine fashions
for the coming year – body armor, backless hospital
gowns, gauze and bandages, and of course, the
perfectly efficient body bag.
George W. Bush has visited few of the injured, and he
has attended none of the funerals. Instead, he has
clamped down on news and images of these, hoping to
protect his refined sensitivities. Such staid, serious
events, those hospital visits and funerals. All the
sadness and misery and guilt. It's just so ... last
year.
The "moment of accountability" is blithely past for
George W. Bush by his own estimation. For thousands of
young Americans, it will instead be a long struggling
lifetime, launched with shattered bodies, broken minds
and dreams crushed.
Like a modern Marie Antoinette, the Bush
administration in 2005 gaily throws a glittering party
and says "Let them dance."
© 2005 Karen Kwiatkowski
Lt. Col. Kwiatkowski can be reached at
karen@militaryweek.com.
OAF OF OFFICE
Thursday, January 20, 2005
by Greg Palast
Watching John Kerry lip-synch the oath of office, I
couldn't help wondering, 'what if.'
Here on stage nd tax cuts against the strange,
nipple-chilling cold. Hell had frozen over.
Our President said, "It is the policy of the United
States to seek and support the growth of democratic
movements and institutions in every nation." Well, no,
it isn't.
Our President said, "We will widen retirement savings
and health insurance." No, he won't.
Our President said, "America will not pretend that
jailed dissidents prefer their chains." Yes, he will.
Our President said, "And our country must abandon all
the habits of racism." Oh, sure.
He doesn't believe a single word he's saying. And all
over America, everyone knows he's lying and America is
truly relieved.
America doesn't want to give up the habit of racism.
Karl Rove doesn't. Jeb Bush doesn't. If not for
challenging hundreds of thousands of voters in Black
precincts of Ohio and other swing states, if not for
purging thousands more from voter rolls for the crime
of voting while Black, you wouldn't be president now,
would you, Mr. President?
You won't "pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their
chains," unless they are chained by your buck-buddies
in Saudi Arabia.
You'll "support democratic movements" so long as the
citizens of Venezuela don't get carried away and
decide that democracy means they can choose a leader
you don't like.
And you'll "widen Social Security and health
insurance"? Who are you kidding? I just got a doctor
bill for $5,200 … should I send it to you at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue?
You said, "You have seen that life is fragile, and
evil is real, and courage triumphs." What you meant
was, "Courage is fragile and real evil triumphs."
Indeed your entire campaign was about American
cowardice: "they" are coming to get us. Americans,
scared for their lives, soiled their underpants and
waddled to the polls crying, "Georgie, save us!"
Franklin Roosevelt said in his inaugural, "We have
nothing to fear but fear itself." But he didn't have
Dick Cheney creating from his bunker a government
which is little more than a Wal-Mart of Fear: midnight
snatchings of citizens for uncharged crimes, wars to
hunt for imaginary weapons aimed at Los Angeles, DNA
data banks of kids and grandmas, the Chicken Little
sky-is-falling social security spook-show, and
shoe-searches in airports. Fear is your only product.
In another world, in which all votes are counted, J.F.
Kerry would have gathered most of those arcane chits
called "electoral votes" and would have taken that
oath today.
But, dear Reader, there's one cold statistic Kerry
voters must face. The fact that Republicans monkeyed
with the votes in swing states doesn't wash away that
big red stain: 59 million Americans marched to the
polls and voted for George W. Bush.
If Osama doesn't scare you, THAT should.
Because if 59 million Americans agreed with George
Bush that every millionaire's son, like him, shouldn't
have to pay inheritance taxes; that sucking up to
Saudi petrocrats constitutes a foreign policy; that
killing Muslims in Mesopotamia will make them less
inclined to kill us in Manhattan; that turning over
social security to the casino operators that gave us
Enron, WorldCom and world depression is smart
economics; then, fine, Mr. Bush deserves the job. But
most Americans, bless'm, don't actually believe any of
that hokum. YET MOST STILL VOTED FOR HIM!
What we witnessed on November 2, 2004 was a 59-million
strong army of pinheads on parade ready to gamble away
their social security so long as George Bush makes
sure that boys kill each other, not kiss each other;
who feel right proud that our uniformed services can
kick some scrawny brown people in the ass in some far
off place when we're mad and can't find Osama; who
can't bring themselves to vote for a guy with a snooty
Boston accent who's never been to a NASCAR tractor
pull and who certainly thinks anyone who does is a
low-Q beer-burping blockhead. And they are.
Today we witnessed more than the coronation of some
privileged little munchkin of mendacity. It is the
triumphal re-occupation of our nation by nitwits who
think Ollie North's a hero not a conman, who can't
name their congressman, who believe that Saddam
Hussein and Osama bin Laden were going steady, who
can't tell Afghanistan from Souvlaki-stan. Bloated
with lies and super-size fries, they clomped to the
polls 59 million strong to vent their small-minded
little hatreds on us all.
When I looked today at the oaf of office, I could not
shake the feeling that this election was an
intelligence test that America flunked.
Catch Greg Palast's documentary, "Bush Family
Fortunes," at the Freedom Film Festival at Sundance,
Thursday, January 27.
For more information, go to
http://www.gregpalast.com/
To receive Palast's investigative reports, sign up at
http://www.gregpalast.com/contact.cfm
Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller,
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=410&row=0
Cable news dismissed and ridiculed inauguration
protesters
During January 20 inauguration coverage, hosts and
commentators on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News ridiculed
inauguration protesters; downplayed their numbers and
significance; and implied that they posed a security
threat.
CNN host Wolf Blitzer seemed to ignore fellow host
Judy Woodruff's point that parade watchers generally
had to pay for seats (and therefore likely supported
President Bush), asserting that in contrast with the
protesters -- whom he called "angry, angry people" --
"there are a lot more people who have gathered along
Pennsylvania Avenue who love this president."
Later, Blitzer again downplayed the protesters'
significance: "And we don't want to make too much of
the protesters, because we don't know how many there
were. Certainly, the nature of this business, the
nature of television, we could over-exaggerate based
on the images, and they might just be a tiny, tiny
overall number." A January 21 New York Times article
rebutted Blitzer's assessment, noting that the number
of protesters in the protest-designated space alone
was in the "thousands," and that there were also
protesters interspersed with Bush supporters
throughout the parade route: "The numbers of
protesters along Pennsylvania Avenue might have been
greater, but the swarm of people trying to pass
through security checkpoints made it hard to reach the
parade route quickly."
As the Bushes' limousine passed the designated
protester area, CNN guest and Harvard University
historian Barbara Kellerman remarked: "I doubt very
much they [the Bushes] are taking the protesters very
seriously at this point. I think they are celebrating
the moment. And I must say, who can blame them?"
On FOX News, homeland defense correspondent Catherine
Herridge also downplayed the number of protesters,
stating that of those associated with the protest
coalition Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER)
"only a few dozen people have shown up." But The New
York Times reported that the ANSWER-led coalition
"filled [the protest-designated space] with thousands
of people who were as close to Mr. Bush as those who
came to cheer him."
HERRIDGE: This is the designated site for an anti-war
group that's called ANSWER. That's an acronym for Act
Now to Stop War and End Racism. This has been billed
as the largest demonstration. It's sort of early days,
but you can see with your own eyes that only a few
dozen people have shown up. ANSWER had told the park
police they were expecting somewhere in the area of
10,000. While they're demonstrating against the
administration's policies -- both domestic and foreign
-- there are groups today that will be demonstrating
in support of the president. The D.C. chapter of
[conservative online forum] Free Republic will be here
supporting the president and also our troops overseas,
and they told the park police they were expecting
somewhere around 1,000 people.
Later, FOX News host, managing editor, and chief
Washington correspondent Brit Hume, observing the
presidential motorcade leaving the White House on its
way to the Capitol, called the protesters not "very
important":
HUME: We'll keep an eye out as well for protesters
along the way. They've been granted more access in
some cases than is usual to the spots along
Pennsylvania Avenue. So we'll keep an eye out for any
of that. It isn't very important, but it's kind of
interesting, and it's sort of typical of this country
that you'd have this grand celebration of the second
term of a new president, and dissenting voices have a
spot in all of it.
On CNN, national correspondent Bob Franken linked
increased security to the protesters:
Of course, the inauguration brings with it pageantry.
But since September 11, 2001, it has met intense,
unbelievable security and an angry nation. The
protesters are set up in various spots. One of the
authorized ones is right in back of me. ... The police
forces are probably going to outnumber the
demonstrators. They are part of a security effort --
most of which we're seeing, highly visible, some of
which we're not -- which is designed to allow this to
be a national security event that becomes a
celebration, as opposed to something that would be
unthinkable.
On MSNBC, Washington Times editorial page editor Tony
Blankley ridiculed animal rights organization People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), calling
them, "People Eating Tasty Animals." Blankley's
comment came as he, MSNBC host Chris Matthews, and
MSNBC contributor and analyst Monica Crowley discussed
the fur coats some wore to inaugural events:
MATTHEWS: I guess there's no -- what do they call it,
PETA? -- they're not around.
CROWLEY: And I like all the fur-lined Stetsons.
BLANKLEY: PETA, isn't that People Eating Tasty
Animals?
MATTHEWS: I don't think so at all. I'd be very
careful, Tony.
— N.C.
Posted to the web on Friday January 21, 2005 at 4:01
PM EST
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rights reserved.
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No Room for Progressives on Cable News Inauguration
Coverage, Says Media Matters for America
WASHINGTON -- January 21 -- Media Matters for America
inventoried all guests who appeared on FOX News, CNN,
and MSNBC during the channels' Jan. 20 inauguration
coverage. Between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Republican and
conservative guests and commentators outnumbered
Democrats and progressives 19 to 7 on FOX, 10 to 1 on
CNN (not including a Republican-skewed panel featuring
Ohio voters), and 13 to 2 on MSNBC. Moreover, the rare
Democrat or progressive guest usually appeared
opposite conservatives, whereas most Republican and
conservative guests and commentators appeared solo or
alongside fellow conservatives. In this survey, Media
Matters included only those commentators whose party
or political affiliation is generally known.
REPUBLICANS OR CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATORS
FOX News
-- Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.)
-- Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.)
-- Brian Harlan, head of officially authorized
Bush-Cheney inaugural memorabilia
-- Ashley Faulkner, star of "Ashley's Ad," campaign
spot by pro-Bush political action committee
-- Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.)
-- Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.)
-- Bush-Cheney '04 chief campaign strategist Matthew
Dowd
-- Weekly Standard executive editor Fred Barnes
-- U.S. News & World Report senior writer Michael
Barone
-- National Review editor Rich Lowry
-- Wall Street Journal contributing editor Peggy
Noonan
-- Weekly Standard editor William Kristol
-- Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer
-- Radio host and FOX News contributor Mike Gallagher
(opposite Beckel)
-- Pro-Bush singer Tony Orlando
-- FOX News political analyst and radio host Tony Snow
-- Former Bush-