Bush Administration Smears Honest Critics
From dKosopedia
A political meme, part of the MemeTank.
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The Bush Administration has made a consistent habit of responding to criticism or accusations by attacking, smearing, threatening, or simply firing the individuals involved, rather than addressing the issues they raised. They do this without regard to party or ideology, and are as likely (or even more likely) to turn on former members of the administration as on their opponents.
Examples include:
- Richard Clarke, accused of being a liberal partisan and "out of the loop" for criticizing the Bush Administration's lack of focus on terrorism.
- Richard Foster, chief actuary for the Medicare program, who was threatened with firing if he told Congress the real cost of the Bush Administration's prescription-drug plan.
- Lawrence Lindsey, the President's chief economic adviser, was fired after stating that the cost of the Iraq war could approach $200 billion. The cost is rapidly approaching $200 billion and will easily surpass that.
- Paul O'Neill, former Treasury Secretary, was fired for questioning whether the Bush Administration's proposed tax cuts were a good idea. After writing a book that revealed the inner workings of the Administration, O'Neill was called "wacky" and then threatened with prosecution over claims, since dropped, that he took classified documents with him upon leaving office.
- Joseph Wilson, whose wife was illegally outed as a CIA operative after he publicized the fact that George W. Bush's State of the Union speech contained claims the Administration knew were false.
- Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, who received a double helping. First fired as Middle East envoy after suggesting the aftermath of the Iraq war might be prolonged and difficult, he was later smeared as an anti-Semite for blaming the misadventure on the neo-conservatives in the Administration.
- Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki, was fired after saying several hundred thousand troops were needed in Iraq (a year later, the number stands at 135,000 and rising).
Disinfopedia has a longer discussion, as does the Center for American Progress, and there's a handy color-coded table at Democrats.com.
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