I agree with your former WaPo colleague Dana Milbank that this open extremism and blatant abuse of power started in the 90s and set the stage for the 2000 election. As Mr. Milbank documented in his book “The Deconstructionists”, September 27, 1994 was the tipping point. That was the day Republicans in the House replaced their long time leader, the kind, dignified, effective long time leader Bob Michel with the openly divisive, destructive, dishonest Newt Gingrich. Newt used his power to do things like shutter Congress’s Office of Technology Assessment as part of his crusade against science.
But Newt’s most extreme and destructive act was to put the power of his office behind proving the vicious, cruel and totally insane lie that the Clintons had murdered their close friend Vince Foster. Newt even allowed a House committee to conduct an investigation led by the looney Dan Burton who presented forensic “evidence” he had created by shooting melons in his back yard.
At the time I was beyond appalled that most of the media did not react to this with appropriate outrage. (I still am.) They continued to treat Newt with respect as if her were a normal Speaker. The media also continued to use Jerry Falwell as a spokesperson for Christians knowing he had been traveling around the country peddling the “Clinton Chronicles”, a video which was a bonkers conspiracy theory about Bill Clinton running a drug ring in Arkansas and having scores of people murdered. I once saw Falwell excuse his slanderous behavior by telling Tim Russert he didn’t know if the charges were true, but just thought people needed to hear about them. Russert gave Falwell a pass, dropped the subject and continued having Falwell on his show as a “good Christian”.
Yup. As the old saying variously attributed to Teddy Roosevelt, the Green Berets, Chuck Colson, and others goes, "When you've got 'em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."
once again you are right, and we need to be reminded.
but power is power. we are in for a bad time. maybe a long bad time.
meanwhile your security system seems to be both unnecessary and logically flawed. fortunately your emailed link arrived after a delay but before i had to contend with the alternate sign-in telling me i had the wrong password... which seems likely as i can't remember all the passwords i have been required to create including the ones that don't work. i think i will just give up.
I agree with your former WaPo colleague Dana Milbank that this open extremism and blatant abuse of power started in the 90s and set the stage for the 2000 election. As Mr. Milbank documented in his book “The Deconstructionists”, September 27, 1994 was the tipping point. That was the day Republicans in the House replaced their long time leader, the kind, dignified, effective long time leader Bob Michel with the openly divisive, destructive, dishonest Newt Gingrich. Newt used his power to do things like shutter Congress’s Office of Technology Assessment as part of his crusade against science.
But Newt’s most extreme and destructive act was to put the power of his office behind proving the vicious, cruel and totally insane lie that the Clintons had murdered their close friend Vince Foster. Newt even allowed a House committee to conduct an investigation led by the looney Dan Burton who presented forensic “evidence” he had created by shooting melons in his back yard.
At the time I was beyond appalled that most of the media did not react to this with appropriate outrage. (I still am.) They continued to treat Newt with respect as if her were a normal Speaker. The media also continued to use Jerry Falwell as a spokesperson for Christians knowing he had been traveling around the country peddling the “Clinton Chronicles”, a video which was a bonkers conspiracy theory about Bill Clinton running a drug ring in Arkansas and having scores of people murdered. I once saw Falwell excuse his slanderous behavior by telling Tim Russert he didn’t know if the charges were true, but just thought people needed to hear about them. Russert gave Falwell a pass, dropped the subject and continued having Falwell on his show as a “good Christian”.
"What he has is power. And that’s what matters. "
Yup. As the old saying variously attributed to Teddy Roosevelt, the Green Berets, Chuck Colson, and others goes, "When you've got 'em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."
once again you are right, and we need to be reminded.
but power is power. we are in for a bad time. maybe a long bad time.
meanwhile your security system seems to be both unnecessary and logically flawed. fortunately your emailed link arrived after a delay but before i had to contend with the alternate sign-in telling me i had the wrong password... which seems likely as i can't remember all the passwords i have been required to create including the ones that don't work. i think i will just give up.