Compare and Contrast

Let's see. One day following Paul O'Neil's interview on 60 Minutes--and, to be fair, roughly one week after a broad outline of what his remarks would be in said interview--the Bush Administration is asking for an investigation into how possibly classified information appeared during the course of the interview.

But, after someone (read: either Rove, Libby, or Tenet) leaks classified information about Valerie Plame, it takes three months for an investigation to begin. Additionally, the investigation is launched not with Shock and Awe, but CYA: insiders were given hours of advance notice to get the shredder started.

I guess that you've got to conserve your resources for the really big stuff, like the possibilty that a classified leak proving that George W. Bush is a vindictive idiot could somehow make it to the mass media. Of course, if that had even the remotest chance of happening, the first stories would be not unlike CNN's marvelous piece linked to here.

To be fair, Josh Marshall was the first person I saw to actually note the irony, although I swear my reaction was similar: you mean to tell me that this is how they're going to react to bombshells of the kind O'Neil is lobbing?

Paul O'Neil is saying that George W. Bush, our (un) elected President, makes Ronald Reagan look like a mental marvel--even with an Alzheimer's diagnosis. Speaking of Reagan, the former Treasury Secretary alleges that none other than Dick Cheney, citing the "Reagan Revolution" in the 1980's, claims that deficits are "irrelevent." In other words, why pay for government when you can charge it instead?

Additionally, there was the juicy tidbit about the groundwork to invade Iraq from, to use a Texas term, the gitgo. Not that anyone with an understanding of just how cynical this particular Administration is would be surprised. Iraq was to be the grand prize of the first term of Dubya, giving him a four year replay at the DC pinball machine.

On that, please take the time to wander over to Today in Iraq to check out our success in this endeavor. In particular, this article offers a good synopsis of the present problems facing the occupation. Candy and flowers are but a distant memory.

But hey, it's all just politics--right?