Have you heard the Big Waah yet? Alberto Gonzales may go down for conspiracy to defraud the people and the Congress, for actions regarding the firing of the 8 prosecutors and lying about it. The Big Waah, which, no offense, sounds a lot like the child of a certain star whining that the school bills weren't paid STILL, goes, "But he authorized torture!"
Big Waah.
Big f-ing Waah.
Demand Congress release the photos they are keeping from the people of Abu Ghraib (much more violent than what made it into the news), file freedom of information requests, or go pout in your corner. America, collectively, saw a limited view of Abu Ghraib and gasped. Then they looked away and no one's done anything that's made them admit that, yes, this government has authorized torture.
What you have with the prosecutors is the same pattern with torture and every thing else the administration does -- lie to the people and plot far from the sunshine. Lie when you're caught and lie some more after.
You haven't hit hard enough on torture to reach enough Americans. That's the reality. A lot of them are willfully living in denial. It'll take a lot to pull them out of that. Now the conspiracy Gonzales and the White House hatched likely included plans for disenfranchising voters again. Glen Ford (Black Agenda Report) notes it would be African-American and Hispanic voters:
Make no mistake. The controversy over the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys by the Bush administration is a race issue. It's often difficult to recognize this essential truth, because the leadership of the Democratic Party is determined not to frame any conflict with Republicans in racial terms. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic honcho Harry Reed actively suppress the racial aspects of the scandal, fearing the subject of race is a turnoff for white voters. The American corporate media also pretend that race is a sideshow - unless it involves the race or ethnicity of a major player in the story.
Now maybe you're not aware of that aspect of the story? If that's the case, you're going to have to really work to get aware because this is one of the buried stories about the conspiracy. If you already were aware of it we have a phrase for you, "That's mighty White of you."
Truly, to dismiss the disenfranchisement of voters based on race and ethnicity as unimportant and a sideshow is pretty disgusting.
As Rebecca has pointed out, Watergate was the crack that brought the whole Nixon presidency down. No one has any idea how far this scandal will go but it's already disgusting. When the White House and Justice Department decided to fire prosecutors and worked out a cover story for Congress and the people, that was a conspiracy. If the Democrats don't buckle, this could be the thing that finally forces them into action on impeachment. Read Majorie Cohn's "Patriot Act Unbound" (CounterPunch) if you're still not getting the potential this case has or check out Robert Parry's "Prosecutor-gate": Bush's Power Grab'. Saturday night, on RadioNation with Laura Flanders, Laura Flanders noted how they were going to try to play it as a Latino issue. They've actually been doing that. The article she was referencing picks up on a point Gonzales made in his March 12th speech. C.I. pointed out the line and can't believe no one wrote about it then. (We can't either, we think we're just missing it. C.I. didn't use it because The Common Ills focuses on Iraq.) But this is what they've tried to fan since Gonzales offered his not-so-sorry.
[C.I. just remembered where it was used, here. From "The Alberto Gonzales Show:" "When he brought up the line about 'I've overcome a lot of obstacles in my life,' we thought he was referring to ethnicity (in which case, he is aware that David Iglesias is Hispanic -- one of the eight who got fired?). Then we read Andrew Zajac's laughable piece (Chicago Tribune) and decided Gonzales was playing drama queen.]
So you've got a number of issues here.
Now let's be very clear on the point here beyond the conspiracy: We're not saying, "Shut up about Guantanamo."
We're not saying, "Accept the system for what it is." Please, we're not Sirota, we'd never be caught dead in poly-blends. What we are saying is that the ones saying "Well torture is more important" are all great communicators. They have informed us on the situation in more ways than we could ever count and we say "Thank you" loudly and clearly.
But the reality is that we're already listening to and/or reading you. You've got to up the ampage (not shut up, not accept, not settle) because there are still a lot of people in denial. (There are still a lot of people uninformed. Some of whom honestly believe that Abu Ghraib, for instance, was immediately shut down after the photos became public.)
Everyone uttering the "Big Waah" is brilliant in their own way. They can reach people. They reached us. But it's not reached far enough.
A few say, "Oh, this is just Dems playing politics." No question, it's easier for Congress (spineless Congress) to address this issue than to address torture. We are in no way saying, "Settle for this and shut up" or "Kiss Congress' butts for finally doing something." Of course Congress is doing something, they were lied to and they (it's Dems and Republicans, not just Democrats) are furious because hard evidence (e-mails and, as of Thursday, Kyle Sampson's testimony) exists. Hard evidence, it should be noted, that the public's aware of. So Congress (Dems and Republicans) aren't just insulted, they're insulted publicly. Of course, they're going to tackle this.
Torture's a tougher issue. Dick Durbin caved under pressure when he was right. He did his public blood letting and probably has no inclination to go near the subject again unless he's forced to do so.
Instead of coming off like an issue, the Big Wah is making the ones crying it look like Susan Newman's character in I Want To Hold Your Hand, running around decrying the Beatles while she insists everyone listen to Joan Baez. We love Joan Baez, we love the Beatles. We listen to both. Sometimes one after the other. Torture is not a minor issue. But this isn't either. African-American voters were sold out in 2000 and some said never again. They were sold out in 2004 despite that 'never again.' If the conspiracy aspect doesn't bother you, if the cover up and the lies to Congress and the people don't bother you, the disenfranchisement should.
But that doesn't mean you shut up about torture or that you have to lead the charge on the Gonzales scandal. It does mean that the wattage needs to go through the roof on torture if you're wanting to get it across.
Ava and C.I. still get e-mails on their 24 commentary that ran some time ago. They note that West asked them to do it and that West asked because Matthew Rothschild had mentioned it in a sentence or two on Progressive Radio. But 24 (and other shows -- including Alias) made torture palatable for many Americans, put forth the lie that you could get reliable evidence from torture, put forth the notion that it was what Americans did and it was very much an American principle. You're up against that and you need to up the action if you want to traction.