The Worst Editorial I've Read Lately

Richard Dortch, a self-described 'independent producer and audio engineer', actually wrote this piece and got it published:

When I began writing for The Clarion-Ledger in 2001, George Bush had just taken office. I predicted in my debut column that Bush would go down in history as a less-talented version of Ronald Reagan.

I was mistaken. It appears now that Bush's legacy may be that of a less-talented version of Richard Nixon.

Nixon had just settled in for the beginning of his second term when the Watergate scandal overtook him. With his criminal conduct in evidence and the Senate prepared to impeach, Nixon was left with little choice but to resign the presidency in disgrace.

Okay, I'll play. Wouldn't Clinton have been a more apt example? No, that would be wrong, Clinton had scandals through both terms.

There is an avalanche of litigation coming down the pike toward the Bush administration. Just as in Nixon's time, it will be arriving on the White House doorstep in the first half of Bush's second term. The grievances are diverse, the investigations both civil and criminal, and the allegations far more serious than Watergate.

This is the extreme in wishful thinking. Let's see what this guy thinks will force Bush to resign in disgrace:

Let's begin with the firstborn of Bush administration scandals: Dick Cheney's secret energy task force. Pursued through the courts by both liberal and conservative public justice groups, Mr. Cheney seems willing to go to any lengths to hide his secret guest list from the American people.

It's a little game I like to call "Hide-the-Saudis."

This of course is an old topic that is only alive over at Moveon.org and the Democratic Underground. Perhaps Mr. Dortch would like to move forward to the year 2005 and leave 2001. Let's continue on with this drivel.

It's a little game I like to call " spot the moronic sentences". It should be real easy with this guy:

Next we have the classic bait-and-switch with the Republican albatross health care bill. Proponents of the bill floated a cost of $400 billion during the national debate. Shortly after the bill passed, the Bush administration casually announced that the real cost was $534 billion. A government whistle-blower has confessed that he was ordered to withhold the honest numbers from Congress until after the bill passed.

Imagine that, a government program that actually cost more than it initially was expected to. By that criteria we should have impeached every Democrat president starting with FDR. That'll really get the nation to rise up against the evil Bushitler.

Dick Cheney's Halliburton is at the center of a veritable lotus flower of civil and criminal investigations. Halliburton has cost American taxpayers through its no-bid contracts, overcharging the Pentagon for everything from gasoline to mashed potatoes. The company just paid a $7.5 million settlement over Enron-style accounting practices during Cheney's tenure as CEO, and more lawsuits are on the way.

The donkeys have been beating this story to death and it still hasn't worked. Cheney is in bed with every corporation and Haliburton is the antichrist, whatever.

Investigations are also pending into the gaming of intelligence to justify the Iraq war.

Every single legislator and head of state throughout the last ten years is on record claiming that Saddam had WMD and to be honest with you, after the purple finger was given to the Baathists, Islamofascists and American Liberals, it's no longer an issue.

Next up is Plame-gate: the betrayal of undercover CIA analyst Valerie Plame. The premeditated exposure of an active intelligence operative is a felony crime against the United States of America. Someone in the Bush administration committed this act of treason.

We are going to find out who, and they are going to prison.

Does this guy even read anything but the Nation for chrissakes? The Plame issue is not one.

These and countless other legal, ethical and criminal investigations await the Bush-Cheney team in its lame duck term. These politicians are not above the law, despite their arrogant assertion to the contrary. When the law finally catches up with them, George Bush and Dick Cheney may well go down in public disgrace — much like Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew before them.

Can you say "President Dennis Hastert?" I didn't think so.

Can you believe that an editor that is not working at Indymedia or Arab News actually let this be printed?