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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom C who wrote (11137)	2/14/2002 9:16:04 PM
From: MSI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93284

"And I thought only libs fell for this viewpoint, you know, "for their own good" or the "we know what’s best for you" type of thinking" That's the nub of the issue. There's an irrational need to embrace the current administration, even to the point of violating cherished principles. Even common sense. Some are hired hands: copi.com Others, like Neocon suggested, need a formal criminal trial to convince them. Even then they may say the verdict was wrong, or get it overturned. Notice Oliver North and Poindexter were convicted of perjury, and the Bush-controlled higher court overturned those convictions, saying their testimony in Congress provided immunity. And now, both are employed, North on the Limbaugh radio circuit, and Poindexter as of yesterday in charge of Homeland information gathering, something called the "Information Exploitation Office " nytimes.com "He was convicted in 1990 on five felony counts of conspiracy, making false statements to Congress and obstructing congressional inquiries into the affair" Now, these are the kind of guys we need at the Information Exploitation Office !! Eventually, some will start looking at the facts, and not the smooth reassurances that the media presence projects. John King, the White House reporter for CNN was on the John Stewart Daily Show speaking candidly last week, when Stewart asked him what was the most interesting thing about being there. He said the news people were most amazed by the fact that the DC politicians, and the country, were taking Junior seriously. Punditry will get you everywhere, when trying to create an image, apparenlty. Investigative reporters will, eventually, crack that facade. I hope Cheney's been good, we'll eventually find out. It's more damaging to wait, imo, but that's their position.

To: Tom C who wrote (11137)	2/15/2002 8:03:38 AM
From: jlallen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93284

No his message seems to be that the American people aren't smart enough to understand our own language much less the intricacies of governing. That’s how I read his turn to this subject. Privileged conversation is needed because the masses won’t understand. Kind’a shocking coming from a conservative (but not shocking coming from a republican). I don't think that is the argument at all. JLA

To: Tom C who wrote (11137)	2/15/2002 8:33:09 AM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 93284

The point is that most people can protect their interests and the interests of their family, friends, and communities perfectly well without a paternalistic government. The government does not "know what's best for you" most of time, and should leave well enough alone. Additionally, government should be broadly accountable to the people, insofar as they can vote, petition for redress of grievances, promote causes, and so forth. However, we have representative government because most people, most of the time, do not have either the time nor expertise needed to deliberate on the full array of issues that come before the government. Even in the legislature, the workload could not be handled with committees and sub- committees, all of which have substantial staff support, as well as relying on the executive branch for a lot of data. The default position is to accept the recommendations of the relevant committee, since it did the work. Only in exceptional circumstances is the work substantially rejected. A poll was done in the mid- 1980's that showed that only 24% of the public knew that Nicaragua was in Central America. That datum is a sine qua non of intelligent discussion about US policy regarding the Contras. But it is surely not sufficient without more knowledge. My guess is that less than 10% of the population was knowledgeable enough to have an intelligent opinion on the matter. Thus, people could say all kinds of things that might influence public opinion without imparting the requisite knowledge. The primary position of the electorate is that of a hiring committee. They are not in a position to perform the task themselves, but they are in a position to evaluate the resumes, letters of recommendation, and interviews with the candidates, to see who seems best suited for the job. Any good manager knows that when you hire someone, you give him the latitude to determine how to meet goals according to his professional judgement, rather than micro- managing......