Deception and Distortion Flourish in the Bush Administration

Weapons of Mass Destruction. The Jobs and Growth Act. The Healthy Forest and Clear Skies Initiatives. The Jessica Lynch Rescue. It's hard to keep track of all of the deception and distortion coming out of the Bush White House.

In last week's Newsweek, Jane Bryant Quinn used the oft-quoted (at least lately) phrase, "Big Lies, repeated, often work." Quinn was writing about the lies that Bush's anti-Medicare, pro-privatization cronies are telling to advance their agenda: "Medicare is hopelessly bureaucratic.... Medicare costs more than private plans.... Private plans are always more efficient." She just as easily could have been talking about the Bush administration's statements on foreign policy, taxation and the environment.

And the Bush lies just keep piling up. Bush's War on Iraq has been over for two months now, but there is still no evidence of the weapons of mass destruction which supposedly justified the preemptive invasion. The Bush administration tries to spin this differently every day - it doesn't really matter ... Hussein removed them before they could be found ... Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made light of the failure to find WMDs by saying:

"We haven't found Saddam Hussein either, but no one's doubting that he was there," Rumsfeld said.

Anyone who was paying attention to Bush's "Jobs and Growth Act" tax cut package, which passed thanks to a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Dick Cheney, must realize that its the equivalent of Robin Hood in reverse - stealing from the poor and giving to the rich, i.e. kickbacks to Bush voters. And Bush had no problem lying about his tax cuts aims or intended benefits.
For example, the president has said that 91 million taxpayers will get an average tax cut of $1,126 this year. But averages are deceiving when a small share of the people receives most of the benefits. In this case, the 83 percent of American households will get less than that average - including 50 million households that receive no tax relief at all and another 24 million that can expect $100 or less - could judge it a failure, or at least a disappointment. The administration has also promised that the changes will create jobs, because 2 million small-business owners receive an "average tax cut" of $2,209 this year. Again, 83 percent of those with small-business income will receive much less - including more than one-third who get less than $100 - providing scant incentive or means to create jobs.

The names of Bush's policies against the environment might be funny, if they weren't so clearly deceitful. In a speech to the National Press Club last Thursday, former Republican and current Independent Senator Jim Jeffords issued:
a stinging indictment of the Bush administration on everything from the inflated claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to tax cuts for the rich and an environmental policy labeled "Clear Skies" that accelerates global warming. "What makes the actions of the Bush administration so troublesome is the lack of honesty," he concluded. "It amounts, in the end, to a pattern of deception and distortion."

And then there is the so-called "rescue" of Pfc. Jessica Lynch, which the US Government choreographed on April 1 (April Fools). This would be big news if a Democrat were President, or if Americans weren't so jaded. Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich called on the Defense Department to release the unedited footage of the "rescue," but no one is holding their breath for that to happen.
"Nothing the administration has said about Private Lynch has been verified by private news reports," the Ohio congressman said Tuesday. "It's time to find out the truth."

Is it just me, or does anyone else miss the petty equivocation of President Bill Clinton when he said, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." The deception and lies put forth by President Bush on a weekly basis make Clinton's dalliances seem downright pedestrian by comparison. And as long as voters aren't really interested in the truth, the lies will only continue.