Don’t legitimize Matthew Dowd
I loves me some Carpetbagger Report, but I can’t let this stand:
Matthew Dowd, the chief strategist for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, recently broke ranks with his White House buddies and denounced Bush’s leadership. He said he sees a president who only hears what he wants to hear, from those who know not to challenge him with competing ideas. “I think he’s become more, in my view, secluded and bubbled in,� Dowd said.
But what about the rest of the White House? It’s one thing for an insecure leader to block out news that might upset him, but surely the president’s team knows not to insulate themselves, right?
Dowd’s assessment is shared by many Republicans in Washington. “Isolation is inevitable in any White House,� says a former Bush aide who returned to the West Wing recently to chat with former colleagues. Now that he is out of the bubble, the former aide says, he can see an isolation he didn’t recognize before. “People in the White House are talking only to each other, reconfirming each other’s and the president’s perceptions and judgments,� he says.
The groupthink is scary — but it’s also helpful in understanding why the Bush White House is so helplessly inept.
You know, it would’ve been nice if Matthew Dowd had thought to tell the rest of the country about this back when it would have mattered. You know, back in 2003.
But being the clever rat that he is, he decided to abandon ship only when he knew it was truly sinking. In a pathetic effort to save his “career,” he’s now trying to remake himself into a sensitive moderate who was taken in by the dastardly preznit Bush and his magickal codpiece of freedom. What’s more, he’s counting on becoming a legitimate figure again by having moderates and libs repeat and give creedence to his sad tales of woe.
“To hell with that!” I sez. The fraudulent bastard deserves to be locked in the stocks and have fruits and vegetables hurled at him for the next 50 years. NO PRISONERS!!!!
Hell, you get no argument from me. Teh entire Repthuglican party has not only been silent these last six years, they’ve aggressively enabled the most evil pack of fucks who ever got into office with less than half the vote.
They all deserve to go to prison.
The fraudulent bastard deserves to be locked in the stocks and have fruits and vegetables hurled at him for the next 50 years.
word
They all seem to have gotten their signature line fron Maxwell Smart:
“Eh, sorry about that.”
Isn’t down one of those “democrats” who went over to the gopers when being a rethug was a profitable thing to do.
May they all be reincarnated in accordance with their karma…
I’m thinking as cultivated oysters.
I love the sight of shits trying to escape from a sinking rap.
Yeah, Bush was on top of his game back in 04, what with the Iraq-Al Qaeda connection, Mission Accomplished, alumninum tubes, Yellowcake, etc. ad naseum. When did Dowd own up to those?
What an asshole. I betcha he eats gigantic subs.
But why did he participate in allowing things to reach this degree of isolation?
Let me guess…..was he just following orders?
The biggest problem we face with all the rats jumping ship is that soon the water is going to be so chock full o’ rats, the newests rats jumping off won’t drown.
Do you supposed we could try to speed the melting of the polar ice caps as a counterbalance?
No, man, I ain’t gonna say shit. I’m sold. No mercy, no comebacks. You play for their team, you’re done. There just ain’t nuthin you can say to earn redemption. Hell, things are going so well, we don’t need them. We don’t need anybody. Just look at all the success we’re having ending the Iraq occupation, restoring constitutional rights, closing the gulags, unequivocally ending torture and regaining America’s stature in the world.
Hell yeah, gimme that rotten avocado. I’m with you guys. Fuck ’em…
mikey
Homegirl–
I recommend rowing up to the side of the stricken vessel with a large rescue pole, and holding the furry li’l fuckers underwater one by one.
Herr Doktor–
Sheer poetry.
We are going to see more of this you know. Bush is sinking. There will be no broder bounce, no “Victory”, no redemption. If the guy had an ounce of competence in him in governing he would have shown it by now.
And lots of supposedly nice former administration hacks are going to come out and go… “Oh no… It wasn’t us. He just didn’t listen to us.” And they will rag on him for doing things in 2002 or 2003 or 2004 that if they had said something in 2002 or 2003 or 2004 it might have actually done something.
And you know the thing of it is? Even though the wise old men of Washington will be pleading for forgiveness and reconciliation for the sake of it in 2008, I would be willing to forgive people like Dowd. The condition though would be that we never had to go through something like this again. But it ain’t gonna happen. Far too many “important” people are less concerned with the mess made than how bad they look.
The rats whom America let escape the sinking Watergate ship have been fouling our public life ever since, from Alexander Hague to Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney to Karl Rove, Lee Atwater to George H.W. Bush, and many, many more.
When the lies and crimes of this administration are revealed we need to know everyone who had the remotest role in them. And we need to make sure that they become totally excluded from our public life. Let’s send ’em to the Hague and they can start a think-tank in some European prison.
Stepping forward might have been difficult years ago when Asshole&Co was still popular, but now? I don’t think so.
Most laughable is his claim that disappointment with Clinton drove him to the Bush camp. If he was looking for a morally superior, more competent leader, what on earth would have motivated him to pick Bush?
When the lies and crimes of this administration are revealed we need to know everyone who had the remotest role in them. And we need to make sure that they become totally excluded from our public life.
Sorry to burst a lovely bubble, but this won’t happen. Why? It’s clear in the article cited above:
“Isolation is inevitable in any White House,� says a former Bush aide who returned to the West Wing recently to chat with former colleagues.
These ratbastards do the vast majority of their spilling of beans under condition of anonymity. And the only reason I can see for that is that they fully intend to become movers and shakers in a future, more competent, den of thieves.
magickal codpiece of freedom
A photoshop contest right there.
Hold it just a cotton pickin’ moment there, mikey. Your statement implies somehow that lettin’ the so-called repentant sinners like Matthew Dowd back??!11! on our team is somehow going to make us stronger?
I see your Joe Lieberman, and raise you a David Horowitz.
I dunno, thunder. I know that ultimately, we don’t get to judge. I know what’s important to me. At the risk of sounding hackneyed, redemption and forgiveness are important themes in my life. They teach it in the program, they teach it in therapy, they teach it in kindergarten. Learning these things has saved my life several times over, and I gotta confess y’all ain’t gonna ever sell me on this concept that cheiu hoi is simply not within our rule set.
Forgiveness is not something that is intended to benefit the forgiven. That is wrong, and uniquely modern western. Forgiveness is how you get rid of the weight that is hate and anger. And redemption is what you offer people who have transgressed, you offer it because YOU didn’t get caught. And it’s not about them, it’s about getting right inside your own head.
And “we” need some help. We ain’t winning. Can this asshat, or any other help? I dunno. But you know the theory. Cheiu hoi is about letting the other side know its ok to come over. To make compelling arguments to their constituency that they need to change paths. We have seen the bush approval rating fall below 30%, yet we can’t make any positive change. And while the clock ticks, people die. People are broken. Widows are made, and stuff is wrecked.
I don’t know a lot of stuff about anything. But I do know this:
Everybody is better off if you don’t close off the path to redemption. Convicts get out of prison. Whaddaya do? Close off the path, force them to go back? Or give them a way to become part of the world?
It’s the same thing, and in addition, we need the help. Any of these people who have credibility with the wingnuts can carry the message. It’s chieu hoi. It’s what I do. Or what I believe.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I understand the point, and I would never tell you you’re wrong, or crazy. But you’re crazy. The most valuable fighter in any battle is the defector. Stay ideologically pure, or find it in your heart to allow people of conscience to decide they made a mistake. Will some take advantage of your kindness? Of course. But how is that your problem?
mikey
Hope I’m not speaking out of place, but shouldn’t this be enough for HTML to come back? I don’t understand what the deal was, exactly, but Brad seems sufficiently non-forgiving of the fuckers who brought this war on.
I guess I’m just saying that I like reading HTML Menken.
Stay ideologically pure, or find it in your heart to allow people of conscience to decide they made a mistake. Will some take advantage of your kindness? Of course. But how is that your problem?
Damn, mikey. Damn. Just when I think I have a good, solid handle on it all you come along and show me what I don’t quite get. Or what I pretty much got but wasn’t really thinking about. Or what I know to be true but angrily or flippantly ignore.
‘Course, now I’ve probably gone and pissed off Mencken.
I love the sight of shits trying to escape from a sinking rap.
Have I mentioned that if I got drunk my boobs would be available for Bimler’s videocamera?
He looks kinda like Speed Metal Nixon.
got drunk my boobs would be available
I don’t have a videocamera — can you scan ’em, or fax ’em or something?
Speaking of pure as the driven snow, having to type in all my info again everytime I want to post is getting pretty old.
Sadly No!sians!??!
Do you realize your WordDepressâ„¢ software is out of control?
Make that rotten fruits and vegetables and rotten eggs to the mix and I’m in. RICO the GOP!
I don’t have a videocamera — can you scan ‘em, or fax ‘em or something?
I’ve always thought of titfaxing as the most ridiculous of sexual acts, so no.
Do you realize your WordDepressâ„¢ software is out of control?
Firefox tames all. This isn’t happening to me.
Opera works fine as well. Of course, it doesn’t allow titfaxing, so there’s that.
Isn’t down one of those “democrats� who went over to the gopers when being a rethug was a profitable thing to do.
You know, klyde, I read this as Dowd being one of those “Democrats” who went down on the GOPers…shows you where my dirty mind is.
But my higher intellect sees appeal in what mikey has to say. As usual, mikey comes in with teh awesome comments. This is one of the only blogs where I read the comments, and I’m usually not disappointed.
I’ve always thought of titfaxing as the most ridiculous of sexual acts
I hope you’re not challenging the SN readership to nominate even more ridiculous acts…
Of course forgiveness is a totally separate thing from taking resposibility – really taking responsibility, not just saying the words. I mean doing your best to make restitution and paying your debt to society. As we all know, most of the Nixon-era criminal cabal that never had to take real responsibility for their actions in the name of “healing the country” have only come back to do more harm than ever today largely because they paid no price.
Forgiveness is a personal, private thing. Whether it happens or not doesn’t really affect anyone outside of you and your immediate circle of friends and family. Being held to account for your illegal actions that have caused great harm and suffering is a very public thing and affects society at large in countless ways. And being held to account doesn’t mean shutting the door on forgiveness nor being welcomed back as a productive member of society.
I’m cool as long as we don’t confuse forgiveness with responsibility, and as long as we don’t shirk OUR responsibility to hold criminal accountable in the name of laziness or expediency.
I hope you’re not challenging the SN readership to nominate even more ridiculous acts…
ASCII Nutsack.
Wha…
Just Saying….
C’MON!!
mikey
A serious, thought-provoking post and set of comments, and all I want to do is make a titfaxing joke about the issues with feeding boobs in one at a time. I’ve been corrupted!
That ‘cat-scan.com’ website (devoted entirely to kittyscans) no longer seems to be extant. It was extremely degrading and exploitative to cats… which is a Good Thing, of course, so long as other cats are being degraded.
Some how, mikey, I don’t see Matthew Dowd as a grizzled vet seeing the error of his ways, and seeking redemption.
You remember Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, from the Nixon days? Maybe we shouldn’t have let them off so easily.
And then there’s Reagan’s boys: Remember Elliott Abrams?
If Matthew Dowd were to apologize to the people he’s slimed, I’d be more willing to consider your case.
Right now, I’m just wondering “what is Mikey smoking?”
WIth his own farts still setting off hotel sprinklers, Dowd dutifully reports that the Bush administration blew smoke up its own ass.
[slow clap from the rest of the world]
Thunder: I’m not SELLIN’. I’m just not BUYIN. We really don’t own the teams, so it’s pretty much theoretical in nature.
In sayin what I think, I promise, I’m not saying I think YOU’RE wrong.
When I think that, I’ll say it straight up.
It’s just what it is, right?
mikey
Yeah, I think you’re right, Mikey, but the thing is that redemption isn’t relevant in this situation. Dowd is simply making a cynical bid for employment in some other Republican campaign or administration. He’s mouthing the new talking point that Bush is such a fucking disaster because he isn’t a real conservative. Dowd’s distancing himself so that he won’t be thrown out with the rest of the Bush trash. Whether we forgive or not is a personal decision that each of us has to make, but we should never, ever, ever expect anything but the absolute worst from this fuck Dowd because there ain’t no redemption going on here.
Mikey – I appreciate your perspective and I think it’s very wise. However, I can’t help but be skeptical of the many right-wingers who have suddenly had an epiphany about President 28%.
I can be open to forgiveness and acceptance provided people have truly made an effort to redeem themselves — David Brock, for example, has redeemed himself (in my view). But at this point I don’t really consider distancing oneself from the Bush administration an act of redemption. It’s just the basic human survival instinct kicking in.
Nonetheless, you are correct that we need all of the allies we can get, so perhaps, for the moment, we should accept them wherever we can find them.
But let me leave with one anecdote from the swamps of DC: I have an acquaintance who worked for the CPA in Iraq under Paul Bremer. This person is now very disillusioned with the Bush Administration, the occupation in Iraq, etc. Says all the same things Matthew Dowd is now saying. And what is this person currently working on (having thrown up their hands on Iraq)? Figuring out how to “deal” with Iran, and diplomacy ain’t exactly high on the list.
Actually, what I really wanted to say was…Titfaxing! Coming soon to your home computer!
We don’t own the teams, if we convince ourselves we’re powerless.
There’s one team that really wants us to think that.
And that’s something I like about Firedoglake. We don’t buy what that team is selling.
Abruptly OT, pardon me. Why is there no Sadly No on this list!?
wewintheylose.com
TBogg is on the list. He has 35 signatures already.
I’m starting to doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!!
David Brock.
Now there’s an example of someone who has really made an effort to make up for his past douchebaggery. Now how far into Bush’s presidency did he get before he saw the error of his ways?
I really can’t see how anybody who hooked his cart to that horse (George W. Bush) can ever do us any good. Ever. Either too stupid to tie his or her shoelaces, or too evil to give a shit about the death and destruction that would ensue.
Let alone the people who waited until April 2007 for their great revelation.
But anyone who wants to try can look at David Brock for an example of the kind of honest effort thay have to make to avoid the well-deserved scorn of honest, decent people.
But I don’t really think this is about forgiveness at all.
Even if something is forgiven, that doesn’t mean that the consequences for what someone has done always go away.
If you were to molest my child (totally hypothetical, because I don’t have any kids), even if I did forgive you, it would still be a bad idea to ever let you around children in an unsupervised fashion ever again.
That’s just how it goes sometimes. Actions have consequences, and those consequences vary based on the severity of the act committed. This is also, from my albeit limited understanding, part of recovery – coming to realize that you are responsible for the consequences of the actions you took when you were acting in a less than responsible fashion, and coming to terms with the fact that the consequences of those actions will continue to shape your life going forward. I was under the impression that part of recovery is making your peace with that fact.
Even if we do “forgive” folks like these – whatever forgiveness means in these sorts of circumstances – it doesn’t mean that they don’t have to face the consequences of what they have done. How on earth could you ever trust a fuckhead like this again? I mean, it’s one thing if the only life your fuckheadedness screws up is mine – I’m a big girl, and I can take care of myself. But when your fuckheadedness screws up the lives of everyone in an entire damn country? And when your response to this is as facile as “all White Houses are isolated”?
Forgiving them isn’t the point. Not letting them near anything that could give them the power to do this again is. And this isn’t out of a sense of hard-heartedness or vindictiveness. It’s out of a sense of ethical responsibility.
Take his money. Take his pants. Throw him back in the White House and weld the fucking door shut.
Now that the rest of you have done the heavy lifting, I’ll synthesise my views from the far more lucid writings of the rest of you. Mikey, eloquent and moving as always. You make me ashamed of my less civilised urges. And Jillian, articulate and reasoned as always. You say what I want to say, but you say it much betterer.
However, to the point. In some ways, it helps to think of this as a war. I mean in the very limited sense of what one does with surrendered enemy soldiers. Let’s consider a hypothetical Sensible Nation.
Sensible Nation would encourage enemy soldiers to surrender by treating surrendered soldiers well, and heavily publicising the fact. If enemy soldiers know that they’ll be tortured, imprisoned, humiliated, marched naked through the streets etc, they’re far less likely to surrender, even if their side is losing.
And after the war is over, Sensible Nation would voluntarily repatriate these same surrendered soldiers, or consider their application for citizenship. After all, Sensible Nation is sensible, and knows that (a) the grunts just carry out their orders, and (b) there’s no sense persecuting them just for being on the wrong side. Provided that there were no war crimes, of course.
So a Sensible Party would loudly applaud these defectors, and clearly and visibly refrain from persecuting them, in hopes of encouraging more defectors. It would also take a lot of the wind from the sails of the opposing party, when the Sensible Party is being so magnanimous in victory. It makes the remaining holdouts even more churlish by comparison.
That’s all pragmatism. On a moral plane, since we can’t know whether their defection is genuine or not, it behoves the Sensible Party to take any defections at face value.
As Mikey says, the logic of crime and punishment holds here: if they’ve done a crime, they should do the time, and when they’ve paid the societally-determined price, they can start afresh.
And here’s where I think the US has a loooooong way to go: the crimes. There have been some major crimes against humanity committed, and they should be investigated and the perpetrators punished. To do otherwise merely cements the reputation of the US as hypocritical, corrupt, and a bad global citizen. To lay charges with the ICC would demonstrate that perhaps the US was learning at least some lessons.
There’s also the issue of responsibility that Jillian brings up. These defectors can be heartily welcomed to the light side, forgiven their sins, but they must be made to realise that there is no Political Forgetfulness Fairy who’s going to wave a magic wand and erase their past actions from the pages of history. They chose their path all the way, and they must be made to accept that, like grown-ups, they must live with the consequences of their own actions. And that’s not always what they want.
One other thing though: I’m with Jillian on the “all White Houses are isolated” astonishment. You wouldn’t get away with that in retail: “Oh, management of Smudgy Chocolate is always isolated, they don’t know what everyone else thinks”. That’s the sort of chocolate management that gives rise to flavours like Anthrax Ripple and Crunchy Raw Unboned Real Dead Frog.
And if management in The Private Sector can somehow find a way to discover what the rest of the country is thinking, is it really too fucking hard for the White House? It’s the government of the most heavily armed country in the world, for godssakes. It’s the closest thing we’ve got to Leader Of The Free World. It’s Country Most Likely To Blow Everyone Else Up.
And they can’t fucking be bothered to find out what other people think?!? Jesus fucking Christ on a racing hamster, what the buggeryfuck do they think they’re doing? Is this a cake stall they think they’re running? Are they taking this job seriously?
Yep, just like Tenet. Fuck them both.
Aaaaaaaand another thing… In the software industry, where I have dallied awhile, one is bound by contract to provide something approximating what the clients want (this is bespoke tailored software, not off the rack). If one does not, one can get one’s arse sued off one.
This behoves one (or indeed many) to have a jolly good go at, not just finding out what the clients want, but that what you build will do what they want. This is why even the small companies invest in rigorous testing and quality assurance, if they want to survive.
And this, gentle reader, is why software developers came up with the idea of beta testers. A good tester is worth his or her (or occasionally its) weight in iridium, and even then they can’t find every fault. So developers invite eager geeks to play with the software, do their best to break it, knowing that different perspectives are incredibly valuable in winkling out the bugs.
Now software as an industry has been around for less than 50 years. How long has the White House been around? If a bunch of socially maladapted geeks can work this out, why then not the US government?
Forgiving them isn’t the point. Not letting them near anything that could give them the power to do this again is.
This is one of the problems with this discussion. It always seems to veer back and forth from the pundits to the actual war criminals in the white house. The war criminals made a mistake, for which they can be forgiven, if one wishes. They are not responsible for war or death, any more than cheerleaders can be given credit for a touchdown, or a sack.
The criminals in government need to be held accountable for their actions, and can never be trusted again. It does not seem reasonable, to me at least, that this same standard applies to pundits…
mikey
Well, the pundits, or even the just plain reporters, as interlocutors for the cabal of war criminals, are at the very least guilty of not doing their jobs well (incompetence) & at the most are guilty of aiding & abetting a criminal enterprise, accessorizing after the fact, obstructing justice, harboring fugitives, “enabling,” etc., etc.
So not only should we put them in the pillory, it is my opinion that we should equip them with heavy duty eye protection, and then allow more than just rotten plant material to be heaved at them. I’m thinking a 60′ 6″ line, and anyone willing to stand behind that line can heave solid objects of less than a half-inch diameter at them, just as hard as their little arms can heave.
And while I’m quibbling: “Will some take advantage of your kindness? Of course. But how is that your problem?” If you’re being taken advantage of, you have a problem. Every one of those Plumber/Watergate/Iran-Contra shitheels should still be doing time, preferably at hard labor.
(emphasis mine)
I hear what you’re saying, mikey, but I think there’s an important distinction to be made. Cheerleaders don’t cheer in order to convince the football players that they actually want to win the football game. War cheerleaders DO try to convince the public that they want to fight a war. I believe this gives them a certain degree of cuplability that they need to be held accountable for.