February 10th, 2006: Scandal Roundup

The Bush administration, from its very outset, and especially since the lead up to war with Iraq, has provided us with an endless succession of scandals. To the great consternation of individuals intelligent enough to qualify as bona fide homo sapiens, they have each, one after the other, sunk almost without trace. However, as I look around at the headlines today, I see that an unexpected number of these submerged scandals are coming up for air. And they are managing to do so despite the Administration’s attempt to recapture the news cycle with their cynical “look at how many times we’ve foiled Al Qaida,” ploy that they wheeled out yesterday; a surprising tactic, given their noble penchant for suppressing operational information that they believe may help the enemy.

First up is the Katrina Scandal:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Democrats investigating FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina say they have documented nearly 30 instances in which federal and local government officials gave early reports on Aug. 29 that levees had broken and that New Orleans was flooding, including one report at 8:30 a.m. the day of the storm.

That information is likely to raise fresh questions about why President Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff were evidently unaware of the flooding until the day after the storm.

Uhuh, we’re all shocked, I’m sure.

Then we have the Valerie Plame Scandal:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, told a grand jury he was "authorized by his superiors" to disclose classified information from an intelligence report to reporters, according to the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case.

The Nuremburg style of defense that he is attempting to employ here is reprehensible, but it is certainly encouraging that he is being compelled to pass some of the blame up the chain of command. I see he is attempting to have it both ways, since he is deliberately vague, and fails to name any names. His lawyer has also denied that any such thing was said. However, this is a crack that the special prosecutor will (hopefully) take a crowbar to.

Both of these, now rather moldy scandals, have reemerged against the background of the still unfolding Abramoff scandal, and the NSA spying scandal. SURELY, the Democrats can make something of this, assuming of course that they manage to come up with a concise, thoughtful and marketable election platform - one that can be contrasted with the problems listed above. Though it has to be said, they are already cutting it fine, as the deafening pre election drumbeat of Republican propaganda will start working up to its crescendo soon, and once that gets going the Democrats better have something more substantial than “there’s a better way” to counter it with.