You Can't Fight the Philistines With a Spoon

Peter Daou on salon.com (via firedoglake [amusing side note, blogger's spellcheck wants me to replace "firedoglake" with "prodigally". Ha.])

The Dynamic of a Bush Scandal: How the Spying Story Will Unfold (and Fade)

7. A few reliable Dems, Conyers, Boxer, et al, take a stand on principle, giving momentary hope to the progressive grassroots/netroots community. The rest of the Dem leadership is temporarily outraged (adding to that hope), but is chronically incapable of maintaining the sense of high indignation and focus required to reach critical mass and create a wholesale shift in public opinion. For example, just as this mother of all scandals hits Washington, Democrats are still putting out press releases on Iraq, ANWR and a range of other topics, diluting the story and signaling that they have little intention of following through. This allows Bush to use his three favorite weapons: time, America's political apathy, and make-believe 'journalists' who yuck it up with him and ask fluff questions at his frat-boy pressers.

8. Reporters and media outlets obfuscate and equivocate, pretending to ask tough questions but essentially pushing the same narratives they've developed and perfected over the past five years, namely, some variation of "Bush firm, Dems soft." A range of Bush-protecting tactics are put into play, one being to ask ridiculously misleading questions such as "Should Bush have the right to protect Americans or should he cave in to Democratic political pressure?" All the while, the right assaults the "liberal" media for daring to tell anything resembling the truth.

9. Polls will emerge with 'proof' that half the public agrees that Bush should have the right to "protect Americans against terrorists." Again, the issue will be framed to mask the true nature of the malfeasance. The media will use these polls to create a self-fulfilling loop and convince the public that it isn't that bad after all. The president breaks the law. Life goes on.

10. The story starts blending into a long string of administration scandals, and through skillful use of scandal fatigue, Bush weathers the storm and moves on, further demoralizing his opponents and cementing the press narrative about his 'resolve' and toughness. Congressional hearings might revive the issue momentarily, and bloggers will hammer away at it, but the initial hype is all the Democrat leadership and the media can muster, and anyway, it's never as juicy the second time around...

Rinse and repeat.

Certainly that's how the recent glut of scandals has gone: the August 6, 2001 PDB, Guantanimo, Abu Graib, Scooter Libby, et al. Let's hope critical mass has been attained. And there's always Jack Abramoff, who the New York Pravda Times says today claims to be broke and is discussing a plea. (How broke can someone who stole millions be? Is he buying cat food for dinner? Doubt it.)

The Democrats cry out for a new leader. I had hopes for Barack Obama after the 2004 Democratic convention, but he is taking bland pleasantness to new heights. You can't fight the Philistines with a spoon. You need a sword. Obama is a plastic spoon at this point. We need someone who's really tough. Chimpeachment will come only at the point of the sword. Who will the sword be?