Friday, February 13, 2009

Stimulus Scare - A Different 'War on Wrong'

As it seems to happen so often in our unfortunate world of media and politics, the language of fear-mongering often trumps the calm, dispassionate distribution of the truth.

So it seems that my
post on Tuesday regarding the questionable assertions of Betsy McCaughey was more relevant than even I thought. As I observed then, this commentary was seemingly picked up and trumpeted by just about every news site and self-described pundit who derives sustenance from the conservative trough.

I spotted it on Drudge, then Newsmax, and then Father Limbaugh, until, in ironically Stockman-esque fashion, it "trickled down" to our own Rick Wagner, who included a reference to the report in his Sentinel column this week. Oops.

Last night
Keith Olbermann took the time to deftly break down Ms. McCaughey's assertions, as well as analyze her motivation for writing what turned out to be some very thin stuff:





Ezra Klein of The American Prospect broke things down even further, revealing Ms. McCaughey as a practitioner of this same kind of disinformation all the way back to the Clinton years. Olbermann's report went even a little deeper, finding a trail leading straight to big Pharma.
Surprise, Surprise, Sgt. Carter.

Tonight as I write this the compromise stimulus bill has passed the House and Senate, with no support from House Republicans and enough in the Senate to prevent a filibuster.
I'm not particularly thrilled with the haste at which this was pushed through. I'm also thinking that there will be sufficient time for deeper analysis, lots of praise and hand-wringing, and the occasional litigation to stop implementation of one segment or another.

Just like with the Patriot Act, and other questionable pieces of legislation enacted in haste in a time of false fear and unjustified war.

I'm also not thrilled with the seeming disconnect between Congress and the majority of the people they're elected to represent. I do believe we have a representative that is responsive to our needs, but feels he must also be responsive to the needs of his party. That's the great dichotomy between representative government and party politics, and I fear we won't be rid of it anytime soon.

For some reason I feel that the current batch of politicians in charge is the lesser of two evils, but there is a nervous level of comfort that goes along with it.

Have a great weekend with someone you love.

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