I Can Dream: Republicans After Fahrenheit 9/11

July 3 2004
Counterbias.com
Doug Griffin
C O U N T E R B U S H

When I worked for a large computer company that was bought by another large computer company, our HR teams distributed some tools to help us cope with the fact that times had indeed changed.  One of the tools distributed was the ‘5 stages of Change.’  Maybe you’re familiar with it.  I can only dream that these stages are what’s happening with Republicans as more and more of them see Fahrenheit 9/11.

The first stage is denial

The President of the United States wouldn’t mislead us.  If he had lied to us, surely the media would report it.  Why hasn’t any of the information from the film been reported in the regular media?  This is just Leftist propaganda. 

Yes it is.  The biggest difference between this Left-wing propaganda and most Right-wing propaganda is truth.  There is far more factual information, and therefore, more truth in Fahrenheit than many conservatives want to admit.  And as we all know, the truth sometimes hurts… a lot.   Denying it only prolongs the agony that is sure to follow with such a realization.

But the information was put out there.  Granted, it was discreet.  Occasionally, the media would drop a story here and there and then the stories would no longer be deemed ‘newsworthy.’  Time magazine ran a story last summer questioning the Saudis’ motives and determination in regards to terrorism.  The Bush/Saudi connection was mentioned there.  It was even on the cover. 

Anybody on the Right pay attention?

Next comes anger or resentment

That damn Michael Moore and those damn liberals!  These left-wing zealots are distorting the facts.  Shame on them for saying these things about my President!  The President of the United States should not be spoken about in such a manner.

I hate to say this, but… You started it!  Perhaps people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.  Or to put it in terms the Right can understand: “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.” 

Worse things were said about President Clinton.  The moral indignation expressed by you on the Right is reprehensible.  You dragged the previous President of the United States of America through the mud because he lied about a personal matter, yet you cry ‘foul’ when simple accountability is required of the current President of the United States for lying about several matters that concern war, our national safety and well-being. 

Not to mention the fact that the main reason you voted for Bush in the first place was because he was going to return “integrity to the Whitehouse.” 

Get over yourselves, Republicans!  You are not the custodians of morality and decency.  Obviously, your judgment is a little flawed in that area.  Look who you picked to be president.  Thanks for that.

I know.  I know.  You’ve been listening to people (and I use that word loosely) like Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, and Rush Limbaugh, thinking they were telling you the truth.  Well, when you only listen to one voice or one side, your truth tends to be what they want it to be.  When the news media fails to offer any alternate opinion or possibility, this obviously exacerbates the problem.  Michael Moore only filled in the gaps that the mainstream media failed to plug themselves – and they were huge.

Whether it was due to fear of losing prime real estate within the White House press corps, or worse, to profit from war coverage (war sells as much as sex does), the media failed us.  This should have absolutely nothing to do with partisan politics.  Whether the media does its job or not is everybody’s business.  This is the first group we all should be angry with.  Second is the Bush Administration.  Although we usually do, we can’t really get angry at the criminals first, this time.  Get angry at the group that is charged with keeping the criminals in check.  In this case, that’s you: CNN, NBC/MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX.  Okay, FOX News gets a pass.  They actually did do their job.  They know full well they are neither “fair” nor “balanced.”  That ‘Fair and Balanced’ farce was taken too seriously by far too many people.  In fact, anytime I happen by FOX News, I take a magnifying glass to the TV screen to look for the disclaimer that says, “This is really not news.  We’re really a Right-wing propaganda network.”  I haven’t found it yet, but I know it must be there.

So, conservatives, you have only yourselves to blame. 

Like exiting Texas Governor Mark White said after Bill Clements was elected:

“Don’t blame me.”

Ditto, conservatives.

The third stage is bargaining

Please, God, if you make them go away, I’ll be good.  Just make this whole movie about the truth disappear.  Discredit Michael Moore.  The truth is too hard to face, God.  Please, if you just erase the last several months and we could go back to our false sense of justice… you know, when we captured Saddam.  That made everything alright, didn’t it?  Or maybe if you could erase time all the way back to May 1, 2003.  Our Mission had been accomplished, Lord.  We won the war and the hearts and minds of the oppressed.  I promise, I’ll be good.  Just don’t make me face the fact that my choice for President of the United States was a monumental mistake.  I can’t deal with that realization.

Don’t blame God for the mess we’re in.

Contrary to what President Bush says, God did not choose him to be president.  The Supreme Court did.  Maybe making a deal with God insuring that the Supreme Court does not make such a catastrophic mistake in the future would be worth bargaining for. 

Bush’s claim that God called him to lead America is either a delusion or more propaganda.  What better way to sell yourself to the religious Right?  God no more wanted George W. Bush to be president than Bush wants gays to have the right to marry.  God was disenfranchised in Florida, too!  Ever since, that decision by the Supremes, God has been bastardized and blasphemed by the Bush Administration. 

Maybe, you should be angry about that.  Maybe you should bargain with God to smite them all or turn them into pillars of salt. 

Whatever you gotta do. 

Maybe if you promise to be more informed about your political choices, God will miraculously ensure that no more unqualified people will run our country.

The fourth stage is depression

Why me, Lord?  How could I have been so blinded.  Why didn’t I see this sooner.  Look at where my country is.  This is not my America. I don’t want to get out of bed.  My president would never do what they say he has done.  But, I can’t deny what has happened.

I never wanted to believe that we could come to this either. 

Welcome to the America that liberals have been living for the past 3 ½ years.  Maybe now, the Right can see the light.

All your Coulters, Limbaughs, Hannitys, O’Reilly’s… they all knowingly misled you.  You have to come to that realization.  Your entire belief system has been or will be turned upside down.  I know.  You actually thought that just because FOX News said it, it was true.  Your logic probably went something like: “Bill O’Reilly wouldn’t call it the ‘No Spin Zone’ if he didn’t mean it.  Would he?”

Yes, he would.  He continues to do so.  In fact, Bill O’Reilly is the king of spin.  O’Reilly’s like a used car salesman, complete with plaid sport jacket.  And like so many used car salesmen, the car he’s selling you is a lemon.

There is some good news, though.  You do have a choice.  You don’t have to buy the lemon that Coulter, Hannity, Limbaugh, O’Reilly and Company are trying to sell you.  You can test drive another model.

Finally comes acceptance

Okay, this is the way it is.  The President may or may not be evil, but his administration as a whole is not good for America.  I’ve been defending this man for so long.  I’m not happy about being duped for the last 4 years.  How can I make sure I won’t be fooled again?

You can exercise your right and vote for someone else.  There is no shame in realizing an error in judgment.  There is, however, shame in blindly repeating that error.  George W. Bush is a hell of a salesman.  He was marketed by some fairly creative minds.  Unfortunately, those minds may not have had America’s best interests at heart.  Perhaps the PNAC All-Stars truly believed that they were acting in our best interests.  The means by which they were prepared for, and partially succeeded in, carrying out their plans is a key problem, though.  Using the office of the President of the United States, the neo-cons had considerable success in duping the public of the United States in several areas.

The level at which they denied, misdirected, and outright lied to keep doing what they were doing and to keep from being prosecuted for it seemed to rise in relation to the stakes. 

They knew about but failed to prevent the events of September 11.

They’ve invaded a country that was not a threat to our own, based on lies.

When the lie became more apparent, then it was time for the misdirection.

Finally, when the misdirection fails -- deny, deny, deny.  Bush and Co. are knee-deep in their own cesspool.  Invasion under false/illegal pretenses, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay -- these are all high crimes and misdemeanors that could (should) land just about the entire Bush Administration in jail.  The denial they use is that they gave no orders to torture prisoners.  Yet another lie, as revealed by the recent assertions from the Justice Department.  And there’s another word we’ve allowed this Administration to bastardize - justice.

Justice would be Republicans seeing the Bush Administration for the criminals that they are.  Justice would be seeing each and every one of them on trial right next to Saddam Hussein.

I can dream.  Can’t I?