Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Gimme Some Truth
The American Prospect this week features an interesting history of the Orange Alert. We have had six of them in the past two years, five nationwide and the most recent one aimed specifically at New York (although as I understand it, New York has been on Orange Alert since the alert system was instituted). What an Orange Alert mostly signifies is a greater level of uncertainty than the level of uncertainty we live with every day--and given the way the previous five have petered out, it's questionable to me what good they do. You actually have a pretty good chance of predicting when the next one will be, because half the time, they've been keyed not to intelligence uncovered by our various agencies, but to major events everyone knows about (the first anniversary of 9/11, the start of the Iraq war, and, most heart-tuggingly of all, Christmas 2003). So I feel safe in predicting that there will be further Orange Alerts in place by Halloween, if not sooner, and if not nationwide, then certainly in places like Florida, Ohio, and Michigan. Imagine having to run a gauntlet of security just to vote on Election Day--having to prove that you're not an Evildoer who wants to Subvert Democracy. Might keep turnout down a little, dontcha think?
Ex-CIA agent Ray McGovern is as worried about the election as anybody--and he's worried about the American people's response, too. He recaps the way the administration seems to be preparing the ground for the postponement or cancellation of the election, and then laments how many Americans seem willing to do whatever it takes to maintain their safety. He's right. To return to a point from yesterday: If Bush went on TV, made his serious face, and announced that from now on, two plus two will equal five, one-third of the electorate would support him 100 percent.
Recommended Reading: When I was quoting Abe Lincoln over the weekend--about there being "no right to mislead others, who have less access to history, and less leisure to study it" because that means "substituting falsehood and deception for truthful evidence and fair argument"--Michael Tomasky of The Prospect was having similar thoughts. He wonders why the editorial pages of the country's major newspapers, which can pay people to access history and study it, haven't taken out after Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and their lies about John Kerry's record. What Kerry did in Vietnam has been a settled issue for years, so SBVT's accusations aren't matters of interpretation. And the fact that the group is bought and paid for by major Bush supporters is relevant, too.
The American Prospect this week features an interesting history of the Orange Alert. We have had six of them in the past two years, five nationwide and the most recent one aimed specifically at New York (although as I understand it, New York has been on Orange Alert since the alert system was instituted). What an Orange Alert mostly signifies is a greater level of uncertainty than the level of uncertainty we live with every day--and given the way the previous five have petered out, it's questionable to me what good they do. You actually have a pretty good chance of predicting when the next one will be, because half the time, they've been keyed not to intelligence uncovered by our various agencies, but to major events everyone knows about (the first anniversary of 9/11, the start of the Iraq war, and, most heart-tuggingly of all, Christmas 2003). So I feel safe in predicting that there will be further Orange Alerts in place by Halloween, if not sooner, and if not nationwide, then certainly in places like Florida, Ohio, and Michigan. Imagine having to run a gauntlet of security just to vote on Election Day--having to prove that you're not an Evildoer who wants to Subvert Democracy. Might keep turnout down a little, dontcha think?
Ex-CIA agent Ray McGovern is as worried about the election as anybody--and he's worried about the American people's response, too. He recaps the way the administration seems to be preparing the ground for the postponement or cancellation of the election, and then laments how many Americans seem willing to do whatever it takes to maintain their safety. He's right. To return to a point from yesterday: If Bush went on TV, made his serious face, and announced that from now on, two plus two will equal five, one-third of the electorate would support him 100 percent.
Recommended Reading: When I was quoting Abe Lincoln over the weekend--about there being "no right to mislead others, who have less access to history, and less leisure to study it" because that means "substituting falsehood and deception for truthful evidence and fair argument"--Michael Tomasky of The Prospect was having similar thoughts. He wonders why the editorial pages of the country's major newspapers, which can pay people to access history and study it, haven't taken out after Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and their lies about John Kerry's record. What Kerry did in Vietnam has been a settled issue for years, so SBVT's accusations aren't matters of interpretation. And the fact that the group is bought and paid for by major Bush supporters is relevant, too.
