Paranoia and Conspiracy
The left blogosphere has been having a bit of fun at the expense of Swampland, the new Time Magazine blog featuring Anna Marie Cox, Joe Klein, Karen Tumulty and Jay Carney. What makes it such a ripe target is that you've got a panel of Washington insiders using the independent fiestiness cache of blogging to demonstrate how out-of-touch their political analysis is. As you may know, Josh Marshall and his TPM reporters have been following the Bush administration's purge of US Attorneys around the country. A good question to ask is why this is happening. Marshall has ccme to the conclusion that this is being done to cut off investigations into the administration before they start by appointing loyalists who will ride out the rest of the administration investigating anything but Bush's many crimes. Yet Carney at Swampland thinks this is "conspiratorial" thinking. I think it's time to add "conspiracy" to my list of most misused words, right up there with "fascist" and "revolution." A conspriacy, both by definition and in practice, is secretive. When someone is legally charged with conspiracy, it is because they were conspiring, furtively, to commit a crime. Conspiracies don't happen in broad daylight. When Marshall and others read between the lines to understand what motivates the purges, they are not looking for conspiracy. They are investigating. Just like members of Congress were doing this morning when they asked AG Gonzales how many Attorneys were asked to resign. Does this mean they too are engaging in conspiratorial thinking? By Carney's definition, yes. And that, of course, is absurd.
No doubt all of this is the result of believing the "Bush hatred" theory of cognitive lapse. In short, the theory states that liberals, and liberals alone, so enraged over Bush's very existence, have lost the ability to think rationally. Because of this, their opinion cannot be trusted. Journalists with proximity to power are especially fond of this theory because it helps them ignore the authority bias they suffer from. What they don't get is that when you've experienced six years of deceit from the President of the United States, it is natural to no longer trust him. There is no need for conspiratorial thinking when the administration admits it has broken the law, has claimed powers that appear nowhere in the Constitution, and ignores expert and popular opinion that disagree with its policies. All of this is right out in the open. And yes, there is still plenty we do not know about this highly secretive administration. That is why bloggers are investigating. That is why the Democratic-led Congress is investigating. And it seems the only people not investigating are the Beltway reporters. Here's a scoop, guys: DC cocktail party gossip is not news. The excesses of the most criminal administration in American history is.
Now go do your fucking job. Sheesh.