Lies in politics

[Bill Angel]

Which checks exactly do you think have broken down to cause an imbalance in the integrity of our elected officials?

 

I would like to quote an analysis concerning the war that was waged in Iraq that I think touches upon this issue:

 

" One of the biggest problems with our political system is presidents get too much blame and too much praise while Congress gets off scot free when something goes wrong. Since it was Congress that determined Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that body, including Senator John Kerry, authorized the president to attack Iraq to protect the security of the United States and enforce United Nations Security Council Resolutions, the American people should blame Congress for the war in Iraq."

See http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/04/11/26/greenslade.htm

 

My point here is that Congress did not subject the assertions made by the Bush Administration about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and links to Al Qaeda to enough analytical scrutiny, but acted more like a "rubber stamp“.

[Phi for All]

My point here is that Congress did not subject the assertions made by the Bush Administration about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and links to Al Qaeda to enough analytical scrutiny, but acted more like a "rubber stamp".

It would seem then that we have no checks to balance Congress out when they decide to be stupid. This was very evident when the House introduced the Patriot Act on October 23, 2001, voted on it on October 24 (despite there being only two copies available), it passed the Senate on October 25 and the president signed it on October 26. AFAIK, only two members of Congress who voted for it admitted the truth, that it would have been impossible to have actually read the bill before voting on it.

[swansont]

My point here is that Congress did not subject the assertions made by the Bush Administration about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and links to Al Qaeda to enough analytical scrutiny, but acted more like a "rubber stamp“.

Knowing full well that opposition from the left would be met with a cudgel in the form of labels of "unpatriotic" or "weak on security", brought out in the next election cycle. Opposition from the right would be rewarded with a loss of support and a challenge in the primary. i.e. politics Nobody wants to be the one to point out that most of our security measures are merely theater, because if/when there is another successful attack, impotent measures are better than none at all in terms of giving cover to your hindquarters.

[John Cuthber]

http://search.dilbert.com/search?w=politicians+lies&x=0&y=0