South by Southwest: When the Magic Is Over, a follow-up

Friday, March 14, 2008

When the Magic Is Over, a follow-up

Reputable sources are the lifeblood of most responsible elements of the blogosphere. A few of us do original reporting; most report on what is being reported or on the opinions of the most highly respected bloggers.

Someone posted a comment at The Reaction to my original 3/13/08 piece, "When the magic is over," asking that I back up the following assertions from that post.

U.S. President George W. Bush -- The decline of the reputation of the United States as the nation to whom all others look for leadership seems unprecedented in history. The current administration's record of torture, lying, law-breaking, fiscal profligacy, and subversion of world community institutions would be hard to top by any subsequent administration.

"ForObama08" made his very reasonable request this way,

I agree whole-heartedly, but my more centrist friends (not Repubs, but just not as progressive as I) will challenge me for specific examples when I say similar things.

Could you perhaps lead me to a site which really has the specifics? Some of these people are my good friends despite political differences, so I don't want to offend them by getting into a shouting match. Sometimes, something just well-written by a reputable source, and not filled with conclusory statements, is the most helpful tool to persuade others.

Here are some references that might be useful to back up each of my claims of "hard to top."

The decline of the reputation of the United States - 1) "Impressions of America" (in Arab countries) 2004, by Zogby. 2) ICM British poll 2006, from Guardian Unlimited. 3) (U. of Maryland)/ WorldPublicOpinion.org "Latin American Publics are Skeptical About US—But Not About Democracy" 2007.

Record of torture - Search: Seymour Hersh is a reliable investigative journalist who writes for the New Yorker Magazine.

Telling lies - Center for Public IntegrityThe War Card: False Statements" (Key False statements). To quote:

President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11,

Law-breaking - Yesterday's S/SW post providing a FISA Digest, focuses on just one of the most egregious categories of law-breaking in the administration -- foreign intelligence surveillance.

Salon.com by Glenn Greenwald: "Signs of life from House Democrats." If you can only read one of these sources Greenwald remains the best. He is a Constitutional Lawyer, par excellance.

Fiscal profligacy - "Studies: Iraq costs US $12B per month," from Yahoo! News, by Charles Hanley of AP, 3/10/08. To quote:
In 2008, its sixth year, the war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the "burn" rate of its earliest years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book.

Subversion of world community institutions - Steve Clemons is at the New America Foundation, a respected Washington think tank. At his blog, The Washington Note, he reported often and at length on former recess appointee, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton's counterproductive term in office. This was a typical post: "Jack Straw Begs Condi: Rein Bolton In"