The American Spectator

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(Page 6 of 12)

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Your observations only foreshadow a more fundamental rot in the fabric of our civilized infrastructure.

We now observe a presidential candidate who is backpedaling on his excellent Cambodian adventure, to be replaced with visions of napalm dancing in his head as he curls in his bunk in San Doc. But that is the myth of the man. But all these 30 odd years later, with the myth growing ever bigger did someone not deflate this balloon? That lack of the pin prick is symptomatic that the greater environs of DC are no longer engendered to define a minimal set of standards that drive to essential truths that move this Republic forward.

The singular institutional force that should be assisting the public in its maintaining these minimal standards is itself adrift in a delusional fog of personality and one- upmanship. I of course speak of the 4th estate. Devoid of the underpinnings of its past due to J School perfidy to parse the appearance more than the substance the likes of a Kerry makes it this far in his bid for the brass ring. Singularly alone with his credentials, Brit Hume argues that the SWIFT vets may yet be a nothing but they should at least have their stories verified. And yet the mainstream press waits silently for some divining influence from the DNC as to how to react. All the while the credibility of the various dailies slide lower and lower. One need only look at the 50% drop in the NYT stock price to see that there is trouble here.

The McGreevey incident is not remarkable in its sex scandal underpinnings. For what would be so shocking if it were the usual tryst of another woman instead? The similarity of it is not the issue. What makes this incident so unbelievable is not that McGreevey came out of the closet; but that he came out of the closet for the purposes of using his sexuality as a shield. McGreevey calculates wrongly that by coming forward he may yet avoid the devastating scandals of corruptions and favors that have ripped through his administration. The immediate outcome of this scandal is the following - As a voter I have every right now to ask any candidate what his/her sexual orientation is. Not to expose that orientation but to assure that such an orientation is not used as a club to extort from the public coffers.

At the heart of this, as a political manifestation, the vetting process for acquiring capable candidates is broken. In our zeal to eliminate the perceived Nixonian scourge of the past we have applied a scorched earth political policy that leaves only the calculating or the vain willing to undergo the rites of passage to political office. The press being unwilling to disengage as arbiter of change and just report the facts good or bad is complicit in the smoldering ruin of our political landscape. And the voters surveying the ruins with their ballots in hand ask --

p>"What happened?" br> -- John McGinnis br> Arlington, Texas /p> p> The acceptable realities of this presidential campaign is the fact of a waffling president being attacked by an anti-American liberal wrapping himself in his "war record' while dissing his comrades-in-arms back when it was the thing to condemn the fighting men of this country among the America haters. The fact that Bush really was floundering around in the sea of deceit called Washington politics, while appointing some liberals and homosexuals, not fighting hard enough for his judicial nominees, and some of the other blunders he has made will probably cost him this election more so than the Bush haters diatribe against him. The only thing that Bush has going for him are Cheney, Rice, and a few hard-core intelligent insiders. This may not be enough considering the attack he is under by the enemies of this nation inside and out. If Kerry becomes president, listen for every left wing fanatic howl with glee as they start dismantling this nation and trashing the Constitution. However, their glee may be shortlived as the reality of the Terror War against us comes to full fruition and they all find themselves in the line of fire with no one with any intelligence occupying the right places to stop them. That is the true reality, whether it's acceptable or not. br> -- Pete Chagnon /p>

topics:
Barack Obama, Constitution, Law, Military, Iraq, Iran, Israel, NATO, Nuclear Weapons, Energy