State of Denial? State of Deceit!

"State of Denial" is the title of Bob Woodward's new book, as if the current administration is merely, a la Reagan, out of touch with reality, as if the architects of our national politicies and actions, both foreign and domestic, seemingly public servants but really basement dwellers, are ignoring gravity or the obvious to build their farflung empire-building edifices, making things look like a western town movie set world, with fake fronts and gunslingers behind every corner and in every shadow. These guys don't want diplomacy, they want "High Noon", and they want that clock to keep ticking toward noon every day.

Bob Woodward is still being kind, treating the dark lords of the Bush administration as if they were merely putting on blinders, naive and optimistic, as opposed to what they really are: ruthless and even malicious liars.

Friend Jack has passed along an article by Juan Cole from his blog "Informed Comment" today. Cole rightly and pointedly shows that we've got a bigger problem here than our distressingly sluggish reluctance to run Bush out of Washington on a rail: it's NOT that they -- the BushCo Gang -- are in a state of denial. They are in a state of lying, and it's not passive or naive, much less altruistic or well-meaning at all. They are in this for themselves, and the press still goes along with the soft approach, as Mr. Cole says, refusing to call a spade a spade.

The mainstream press is filled with sheep who, even on a good day when a few of the not quite so complicit lambs smell blood and a good new headline, don't ask even the semi-tough questions I know a lot of us are coming up with. How come we're so much braver and more incisive than the pros? Maybe we aren't complicit. Maybe we are dangerous to a democracy and a government this corrupt. Maybe we -- We of the Tougher Questions -- are the real patriots after all.