Of all the things that really grind my cookies about the political right in this country, nothing quite does it like the screeching hypocrisy of their PR wing in the media, as exemplified by folks like Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Coulter, and our featured BS artist of the day, Michelle Malkin.
Michelle wants so very desperately to find something evil and insidious about the Obama administration that she's embarked on a one-woman campaign to ferret out waste and rule-breaking wherever she can find it. Exhibit A:
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/12/20/document-drop-the-story-behind-changegov/
Here, Michelle wants us to immediately hold the Obama team's feet to the fire because the government domain they're using, change.gov, was deemed unfit for service according to existing rules for that TLD, and the Obama team - scoundrels! - appealed the decision to refuse the domain name, and won, with an argument that the creation of this domain would be in the best interests of service to the people, and of the government itself.
I really wanted to put a graphic here of Gonzo the Muppet running around in circles backstage at the Muppet Show, waving his arms in the air wildly and screaming STOP THE PRESSEESSSSSS, but I couldn't find one. Close your eyes and imagine it for a second.
Done? Okay, let's move on.
One is forced to wonder: Where was this laser-like focus on scrutinizing government activity during the buildup to the war in Iraq? Why hasn't Ms. Malkin - or any of her cohorts - shown this same dedication to fact-finding when it comes to, ohhhhh, let's say tracking down the Reigle Report from 1993? You know, the one that has the exhaustive list of materiel and sources for various nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons components sold to the Hussein government throughout the 1980's and even after the end of the first Gulf War? The one that shows us selling things like anthrax and botulism toxins, weapons systems, weapons fabrication systems, and so on? The one that turned Bill Hicks' legendary remark:
"So, uh, how do you know exactly what terrible weapons of mass destruction they have in Iraq?"
"Well, we, um, looked at the receipt."
from the pointed punchline of a standup comedian to a simple historical observation? It's not a joke, man - we do have the receipts, we did sell that stuff, and guess who was responsible for allowing that to happen? Dear Ol' Dad and his good friends, led by Donald Rumsfeld (who spearheaded the drive to remove Iraq from the list of terror-sponsoring nations in the early 80's so that these sales could be made), Dick Cheney, and a few other fine folks. This isn't just the black-helicopter conspiracy theorism of some random idiot with a blog, folks - this is documented fact that any one of us can track down with twenty minutes in Google, if we just care to look.
Maybe I'm just...I don't know...jaded? cynical? partisan? paying attention?... but to me this seems like a much more important story of abuse of power and poor decision-making displayed by our leaders than the fact that OMG CHANGE IS OBAMA'S SLOGAN AND NOW IT'S A .GOV EVUL EVUL LIBRULS OMG THEY MUST BE STOPPED!
I would like Ms. Malkin or her cheerleaders to please answer the following questions about Change.Gov:
How many people have lost their lives because of the decision - on appeal - in favor of the Obama transition team vis-a-vis change.gov?
How much tax money was spent in executing this brash and unforgivable end-run around government regulations?
What laws have been broken in the process of securing this domain name?
How does this situation display a callous disregard for the trust and respect of the people of the US?
What harm has been done by allowing this website to exist?
Then I would like them to ask the same questions about....well, pretty much ANY major decision made by the Bush Administration in regards to the war in Iraq.
Michelle Malkin would have us believe that this "investigation" constitutes some sort of deep, meaningful probe into the ethics of the incoming administration. Ms. Malkin would like you to think that she is savvy and unstoppable, the pitbull-terrier mix of the Fourth Estate, doggedly (no pun intended) sinking her teeth in to this critical issue and exposing the rampant abuse of public trust for all to see.
In this writer's opinion, Ms. Malkin and her ilk are desperately trying to find some semblance of legitimacy after shamefully abdicating their responsibility to critically examine our Government in the lead-up to the Iraq war. I notice that Ms. Malkin - and much of the rest of the media - have ignored Dick Cheney's statements this week in favor of waterboarding, and ongoing claims that the invasion of Iraq was justified by intelligence. They've ignored dozens, if not hundreds, of policy decisions by the Bush Administration that, if undertaken by a guy with a (D) after his name, would lead to loud calls for impeachment. Mr. Clinton lied to congress about oral sex and was impeached; Mr. Bush lied to congress about GOING TO WAR, and is a hero to these people.
If you want to pretend that the OMGEVUL process of applying for a domain name, being rejected, appealing, and winning the appeal constitutes some abuse of government power, that's fine. Let them make that claim. All I'm asking is that the same standards be applied across the board. Lying to the American people is wrong. Abusing power is wrong. Short-circuiting the justice system is wrong. We can all agree on these things.
I would respectfully suggest that anyone who imagines themselves to be some champion of investigative journalism and government accountability risks becoming a laughingstock when they make this kind of noise over what is, in reality, a simple matter of working within the system the way it was designed, but then give their buddies a free ride in matters that have cost hundreds of thousands of lives and involved decades of government malfeasance, dishonesty, and dishonor. If you want to be a gutsy investigative journalist fighting for truth, justice, and the American Way, you might consider trying to actually focus on something that has meaning outside of the petty and jejune poo-flinging that this 'investigative report' constitutes.
I don't know which I find more disturbing: the fact that people like this are allowed by the public to go on pretending they have any value whatsoever to the process of keeping government honest, or the fact that there is still a significant percentage of people who will line up behind this kind of bovine excreta demanding answers and transparency while even at this moment human beings are giving their lives as the price for the unforgivable abuses of power engaged in by the Bush administration, and not just ignored but encouraged by Malkin and others of her stripe.
My advice to Malkin, Limbaugh, and the rest is to get paid while you can; this sort of blatant insult to intelligence is breathing its last as a mainstream proposition. Maybe, if you're lucky, you can get a spot as a political commentator on the Art Bell show or something when We The People start embracing critical thought again.