Scandal Fatigue

[marmar]

from Truthdig:


Scandal Fatigue


Posted on Jul 27, 2007
By Eugene Robinson

WASHINGTON—It’s way past bedtime for Gonzo. At this point, every day Alberto Gonzales continues as attorney general means more dishonor for the office and the nation—and higher blood pressure for Senate Judiciary Committee members trying desperately to get a straight answer out of the man.

Gonzo has managed to do something no one else in Washington has managed in years: create a spirit of true bipartisanship. After his pathetic act in front of the committee Tuesday, it’s no surprise that Democrats are threatening to investigate him for perjury. But it was Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican, who looked Gonzo in the face and told him, “I do not find your testimony credible, candidly.”

Specter seems ready to pop a gasket. “The hearing two days ago was devastating” for Gonzo, Specter said Thursday. “But so was the hearing before that, and so was the hearing before that.”

Over time, one becomes almost numb to this administration’s relentless lies and can-you-top-this transgressions. A kind of “outrage fatigue” sets in, accompanied by the knowledge that whatever it is that they’ve done this time, it could have been worse.

So when George W. Bush rewrote history the other day by saying that “al-Qaida terrorists killed Americans on 9/11 they’re fighting us in Iraq,” the tendency is to duly note that the president is not telling the truth—there is no evidence whatsoever that al-Qaida in Iraq, which didn’t exist at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks, takes orders from Osama bin Laden—and then move on. Hey, at least it’s just talk. At least he didn’t invade Iran or Pakistan. Yet.

For me, at least, Gonzo is the perfect antidote to midsummer apathy. The guy is ... I was going to say the guy’s unbelievable, but I’d just be repeating the bipartisan consensus on Capitol Hill. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070727_scandal_fatigue/