Get it Right Please!

Saturday's editorial concerned an appearance on "Meet the Press" by Roger Simon, a reporter for Politico. The editorial was correct in saying that the case revolved around the "'outing'" of CIA analyst Valerie Plame. The Prosecutor in this case actually found that there wasn't enough evidence or reason to bring charges in this aspect of the case. Scooter Libby is on trial for LYING under oath to a grand jury. From Think Progress posted by Payson:

"Actually, Scooter Libby lied — under oath, to a federal grand jury. He is facing serious felony charges: obstruction of justice, making false statements to a grand jury, and perjury. But according to Simon, these aren’t “'real crimes.'”

This issue is important as shown by an ABC News poll taken at the beginning of the trial that found:

"70 percent of Americans considered the charges against Libby to be serious, and a majority of Americans believed the Libby indictment 'indicates broader problems with ethical wrongdoing in the Bush Administration.'”

The DNR should retract and correct the false headline "A Case of Treason?" The DNR was wrong in calling this a show trial. The DNR should apologize for trivializing lying, obstruction of justice, making false statements to a grand jury, and perjury.

The DNR went on to decry the bias in the media and the hypocrisy shown by the LA Times and the NY Times concerning the "three CIA fliers who may have been used to transport terrorists to different countries." The DNR should recognize that the “three patriots” in question were involved in illegally transporting SUSPECTS in terrorism investigations so that they could be tortured. This simple difference in wording highlights the whole point that the DNR is trying to make.

In the view of the NeoCon ideologues, if you are SUSPECTED of terrorism, you ARE a terrorist! If you are FOR the War you are patriot, if you are AGAINST the war you are "helping the terrorists." This type of absolutism is completely false. The DNR continually parrots this mythological NeoCon dogma. Over and over we hear the DNR proclaim from the Bully Pulpit that Torture is an essential tool for fighting terrorism, that absolute loyalty to the party and it's leaders is the only true patriotism and that anyone who is critical of the Leader and his War-making is a traitor. From this perspective it's easy to see why this editorial is so far off into the realm of fantasy. Once again the DNR has used the Editorial Page to proclaim it's NeoCon "Realworld," a world full of villains and evil-doers, of sin and falsehood, of imminent destruction, where we all need to get in the bunker, hunker down, and prepare ourselves for an "existential conflict" that will last far beyond our lifetime. Be afraid.. be very, very afraid...

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The truth is the greatest enemy of the state.”

- Joseph Goebbels.