small world of little interest

Yesterday I made a passing reference to Fitzmas to a friend.

Her response was. . .Huh?

I ran names past her. Fitzgerald. Libby. Wilson. Plame. She recognized Plame--or maybe by then she just wanted me to shut up. And, thank goodness, she knew Rove and Cheney.

This is a well-educated savvy person I was talking to. A voter who actually reads those circulars the League of Women Voters sends out at election time.

For a moment I thought heck, it's like the RWA fiascos. Whenever I talked about RWA with my Real World friends they'd say So? Who gives a shit? And I have to agree. Yah, it's really nothing, isn't it. No point in going on about the whole sad saga of the Definition of Romance. The great Inspiration and Erotica writers' schism.

For maybe a second I thought that.

But then I had to tell her write this down--I have a list of sites to visit to learn more about Rove, Libby and the gang. Most of the sites are unbiased, like Fitzgerald's.

The implications (and there are plenty, no matter what Fitzgerald said) of the story affect us all--and I don't mean just Americans. The backstory of the current administration's actions is probably far worse for us than the story behind the stain on the damned blue dress. ** And if any of you don't know what I mean by the blue dress, then never mind. You aren't from this universe.

Far worse implications, but not nearly as lurid as Clinton's story. I wish there was some sex in this particular saga. That would make the thing a lot more interesting and memorable to the people who aren't wonks, eh? We at least need a Maureen Dean.


****
I can't understand why people aren't fascinated, but then I grew up in DC. My family didn't do sports, they did politics (and unfortunately, sometimes politics did them). My fatally ill grandmother stayed alive just so she could watch Nixon go down. She used to lie in her hospital bed and call my parents to go over the day's testimony. She was like a ailing Red Sox fan who managed to hold on until the end of last year's World Series. After Watergate ended, she lost the incentive to stay alive.

I wish I could call her and my father now. Yeah, the situation is beyond partisan politics, but I know they'd have done a lot of cheering and jeering-- and maybe have some big foam fingers to wave.

*****

Here's a take on the whole thing--came from a comments section here. (Yes, the General is more radical.)

As I watched Mr. Fitzgerald's press conference, I had this...this strange, vaguely nostalgic feeling come over me...

...it was, at long last and undeniably, a small resurgence of pride in my country. YES, I thought; YES, THIS is the America I remember. He spoke of the crimes that have been committed by those in control as, well, CRIMES against our country. OUR country, not the personal, decimated playground of corruption that the current cabal seems to think it is. The Constitution. The First Amendment. A government where even the most powerful shitbag is no match for the system, when it works, when it is in the hands of people such as Fitzgerald. Rove's (and, hopefully, others') come-uppance may still be a dream deferred, but for today, at long last, I felt good about living here again. That was Fitzmas for me.


______________

** the first version of this sentence was the familiar liberal cry of "Clinton just did it to one woman, the current administration did it to over two thousand American servicemen and their families." If it was just a matter of 2000 people performing oral sex it would be a much more amusing and interesting matter. Yeah, okay, Teresa, I'd worry about offending people but in the face of this no one can remain indifferent. I hope.

Comments

  1. (shaking head) People are surprising nonchalant about a lot of things...politics, global warming, the suspiciously wrapped parcel their neighbor stows in the garbage that looks like a body...you name it. I have severe memory problems, but some things just stick when you read or hear them.

    The sad part is that so little matters to so many.

    ReplyDelete
  2. American politics is so exciting these days, no matter which side you're cheering for.
    Prior to hurricane Katrina, I have to admit to being a titch apprehensive about the direction the US society was being marched toward... since Katrina however it's as though America has woken from its stupor. yes even the media.

    Exciting times indeed.

    X

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yup, this happened to me, too, when I told my receptionist and billing person why I was so agitated on Friday. I'd forgotten that some otherwise intelligent people don't read newspapers or watch TV news.

    Next week should be very interesting . . . I hope.

    ReplyDelete
  4. okay there's Patrick Fitzgerald's site. here's a copy of the indictment.
    http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/documents/libby_indictment_28102005.pdf

    Here's a newsweek piece pointing out it is about the war.
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9865068/site/newsweek/

    and then the rest is pretty flaming liberal. I like Doug's piece a lot. And there's a series about how the White House's actions were truly about making Wilson (Plame's husband) look bad
    http://thinkprogress.org/2005/10/30/indictment-dissected-a-campaign-against-wilson/

    The fact is that they were determined to go to war and anyone who got in their way got bulldozed. Wilson wasn't the only one.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I doubt very few people support what Libby did. The difference in opinon/view is how much other people in the administration knew about his actions. It might never be clear.

    The president's supporters say that he's a delegator and therefore knew nothing about the campaign to undermine the war's detractors. I wouldn't be surprised--but I would be surprised if the people around him didn't know.

    There're plenty of reports about how Bush wanted evidence that would make Saddam look guilty and he was asking the CIA and others to find it. It could be that on their own some of his underlings got too enthusiastic in their push to make sure the path to war was clear.

    ReplyDelete

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