Jesus, guys. Don't be like *them.*

[demiurgent]

The same thing happened to me as happened to a lot of Internet aware liberals. I read that President Bush reportedly screamed "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face! It's just a goddamned piece of paper!" And I got pissed as Hell, just like every loyal American, liberal or conservative, should. I ranted, in my head, about principles, about the founders, about America.

Here's the thing, though. I read it on an ultra-left-wing blog. And while I have no reason to think Doug Thompson is lying, I have no reason to think he wouldn't blow things out of proportion, either.

There is no independent corroboration. Just "three people he talked to."

Jesus Christ on the Half Shell, gang. This is bush league crap. This is punditry through innuendo. This is the kind of thing we loathe in the most partisan, least even-handed of the Neo-con pundits.

If we're honestly liberals -- if we're honestly for rationality, for humanism, for principle, for the greatest good for the greatest number, we need to be above this kind of petty rumor mongering playing on patriotism and emotionalism over substance. If Bush actually said this and if it can be corroborated, we can have a debate over what this means -- what it means to have a President who swore an Oath to uphold a Constitution he dismisses as meaningless. And all the rest. I can froth with the rest of you.

And guess what -- if it turns out to be true, the Right Wing in this country will be right alongside us, frothing as hard or harder. Don't kid yourselves, love of the Constitution is a bedrock Conservative principle too.

But right now, it's fucking gossip.

This is beneath us. This is Ann Fucking Coulter level crap.

If their side of the aisle won't decry it, that's their lookout. But Liberals? Like me and a lot of you? We should be staring at this, calling shenanigans and getting our fucking brooms.

It's not like the Bush Administration hasn't given us plenty of real things to be outraged over. We don't need this ridiculousness clouding the debate.

Comments

[ryuko-midori.livejournal.com]

Jebus. That's the one thing that terrifies me about the blogosphere being where people get their news nowadays. Not everyone who blogs is going to be truthful, and not everyone's going to check their facts. That's pretty ridiculous.

(sigh) I really do hate politics.

[ohnefuehlen.livejournal.com]

Whoa, wait.

Capitol Hill Blue is "ultra-left-wing"?

I know America is further right than the UK, but are there not at least some Trots there?

[edg.livejournal.com]

While I have no particular reason to think that Thompson is lying, as cappadocius points out, if he's not, why is he the only Google hit for the quotation?

[masonk.livejournal.com]

This is the first I've heard about this, so I didn't have a chance to get outraged before I saw it in this context.

That said, I'm not sure I would have gotten outraged. It sounds, well, too right. More like "Oh, well, that explains why he does what he does, if he doesn't believe in the Constitution." More confirmation than outrage, you know?

But, yeah. Without more evidence that it was said, even that gets to go with a grain of salt.

[scarfman]

Yeah, I saw this quoted on my friends list. Frankly, I didn't believe it. Even if George really thinks that of the Constitution, I don't believe even he is stupid enough to say it out loud. If I'm wrong, it'll make the network news and I'll find out then.

[jamiecotc.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything you said, Eric. The problem with this is that if it was a closed meeting, and I have no reason to doubt that it wasn’t, we will most likely never know the truth one way or the other. It’s a Catch 22. If Bush really said this and the American people demand nothing, then we deserve whatever comes from this. If on the other hand this is just gossip, then those who go after Bush will only make him more sympathetic. Until we have confirmation this must be taken with a grain salt. The question is what will determine confirmation? Will it take one person from the meeting to step forward? Two? All of them? It would still be denied.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU FOR BEING SANE.

-The Gneech

[onalark.livejournal.com]

Anytime a "journalist" starts using colorful language to set the stage of his or her "report" -- "retorted" "screamed" "purplemonkeydishwasher" -- I pretty much chalk it up to yellow journalism and ignore it.

Unfortunately, my friends in the blogosphere aren't quite so inclined. Which is sad. The fact of the matter is, we've got a war going on where people are dying daily because of this administration's repeated failure to properly fact-check and deliberate. We don't need any more reason to dislike this administration than that.

Of course, if you believe my conservative military friends, there are "state secrets" civilians just don't know. Things that, if the American people did know them, it would blow our little minds!!! And that is why we had to go to war, Steph. Someday, it'll all come out in the open and YOU'LL UNDERSTAND.

That's like the Santa Claus of war arguments. And it doesn't fly in a democracy.

Hm. This has turned into an anti-war post. Sorry about that. Sigh.+

[scrawlgirl.livejournal.com]

if you had just spoken these words to a large auditorium and doing so resulted in only silence and glares, i would stand up alone and clap.

[akhenaten.livejournal.com]

Ah, crazy liberals, conservatives, leftists, rightists. Crazy partisans of all stripes. Whenever something like this comes up, centrists like me just laugh, and sigh, and then say, "That's why there's no point in voting. Whoever's elected is just going to alienate and piss off half the county."

[nicholey-2003.livejournal.com]

hear, hear. and people wonder why no one takes the damned democratic party seriously anymore. i may feel a lot of hatred toward the bush administration, and i may want to go all anti-ann-coulter-esque on them, but then i look at idiots like bill o'reilly and said coulter and sean hannity and i think, why do i want to portray myself in the same light as they are seen?

plus, being a supposed 'ethical' journalist, i'm not really allowed to say. but still ... spreading shit that you're not at least sort of sure about - not quite cool. i would have thought the same way you did had i read that at the time before checking out my sources. i think we are all just very frustrated with EVERYTHING that is going on, and especially since in this day and age liberals really don't have a voice, some people feel they have to take what they can get, which could result to radicalism ... radicalism isn't even a word ...

and i'm just yammering.