-Caveat Lector-
Not ready for prime time
Chavez flap is one more sign of Bushies� arrogance
By Paul Begala
MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR
Jan. 8 � So now we learn that Labor Secretary-designate
Linda Chavez housed � and may have employed � an illegal alien.
We don�t have enough information yet to discern whether this was
a commendable act of charity or a criminal violation of the labor
laws. And until more facts are in I�m not interested in passing
judgment on Chavez. But this revelation does allow us to make
some important judgments about Team Bush:
THEY LIE: I know that sounds harsh, but what else do
you call it? The New York Times reports that Bush spokesman
Tucker Eskew �said Ms. Chavez was unaware of the woman�s legal
status at the time she was sheltering her and only realized after
she had departed from her home that she was here illegally.� But
that�s not what the woman in question says. Marta Mercado told
The Washington Post that she informed Chavez of her illegal
status about three months after moving into her home. And
Chavez�s close friend, Abigail Thernstrom, told the Times, �I�m
pretty confident that Linda did know� that Mercado was not
legally in this country.
Why would the Bushies lie about such a thing? For the same
reason George W. Bush lied about failing to report to the Alabama
National Guard and for the same reason the president-elect lied
about his arrest for drunk driving. It�s the same reason the
Bushies lied about Dick Cheney�s post-election heart attack. And
the same reason Bush lied to a court in Texas about whether he�d
discussed with state regulators a controversial investigation of
a funeral home company run by a gubernatorial campaign
contributor. Because that�s what they do. CLINTON LIES
VS. BUSH LIES
Yes, Bill Clinton denied having an affair. I don�t excuse
that, but what straying husband wants his family, much less the
world, to know? And (except for Hillary) whose dadgum business is
it anyway?
As they never tire of telling us, the Bushies don�t have
extramarital affairs. They save their lies for public affairs.
Remember: �Read my lips.� Remember: �I was out of the loop on
Iran-Contra.� And who can forget: �Clarence Thomas is the most
qualified person in America for the Supreme Court.�
So spare us the lectures about �restoring honor and
dignity� to the White House. Bush hasn�t even gotten there yet,
and he�s already left a trail of mendacity from here to Waco. The
only thing the Bushies ever wanted to restore was themselves � to
power.
But the lack of candor from Bush and his minions is not
the only lesson from this mess. We�ve also learned � horrors:
They�re hypocrites. When Attorney General-designate Zoe Baird
was being pilloried for failing to pay Social Security taxes on
an illegal immigrant she�d hired as a nanny, Linda Chavez was one
of the loudest voices in the hypocrites� choir. �I think most of
the American people were upset during the Zoe Baird nomination
that she�d hired an illegal alien. That was what upset them more
than the fact that she did not pay Social Security taxes,� Chavez
told PBS in 1993, according to the Post.
As they never tire of telling us, the Bushies don�t have
extramarital affairs. They save their lies for public affairs.
And Chavez was far from alone. During the Baird case, and
all the way through impeachment, Republicans argued for a strict,
unforgiving reading of the law, invoking in pompous, pious tones,
�The Rule of Law.� Let�s see the same people who argued for Bill
Clinton because he was reluctant to admit an affair turn around
and argue for leniency in the Chavez case.
A strict reading of the law says it�s a violation to
harbor someone who is illegally in this country � irrespective of
whether you actually employed her (which would be another
violation). But suddenly, the same people who trashed the
Constitution to impeach President Clinton because they wanted to
make a constitutional crisis out of an affair, are now, in the
words of the Bush transition spokesman, appealing for �a
common-sense standard: government should not punish you for
trying to help somebody else out in life.�
Only a Bushie could produce this whiplash-inducing spin.
Only a Bushie could convince himself that the rules don�t apply
to him and his cronies. And only a Bushie could argue that when
�they� break the rules, the act is a manifestation of their good
intentions and moral superiority, while if a Democrat makes a
mistake it is, literally, a federal case and proof of that
person�s moral sleaziness. ENUMERATING ACTS OF COMPASSION
Finally, we�ve learned something more surprising:
Not ready for prime time. Who would�ve thought that
Cheney-Bush, Inc. would stumble so badly on something so obvious?
Spokesfibber Eskew was coy when asked if Chavez�s illegal
immigrant problem had surfaced in the pre-nomination vetting.
�The vetters ask a range of serious questions,� he told the Post,
�including things about domestic employees and paying taxes. They
don�t, however, ask potential nominees to enumerate every act of
compassion.�
Sounds like they missed this. They missed Dick Cheney�s
EKG, which looks like 40 miles of bad Oklahoma farm road, and his
congressional voting record, which looks like Jesse Helms�
greatest hits. They missed John Ashcroft�s remark that the cause
of the Confederacy � slavery � was not �perverted.� If people
owning people ain�t perverted, I don�t know what is.
The Bushies promised competence more than ideology. So far
we�ve gotten mendacity and hypocrisy � all in service of a
right-wing ideology. No wonder they lost the election.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Democratic strategist Paul Begala is a political commentator and
the author of �Is Our Children Learning? The Case Against George
W. Bush.�
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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