Last week Howard Dean shot off his mouth again.

Good.  It is about time that some Democrat shows some manner of intestinal fortitude.  Dean may not be the firebrand that many on the far left wish he was, but in comparison to all the “Center-crats” (a term I ripped off from Morning Sedition’s Mark Maron), Dean is a virtual bloody gladiator.  For about a decade, the Republicans have launched attacks on anyone in their way in bombastic, sensational, and, often, in not-so-truthful ways.  How are non-Republicans to counter this?  Have we not learned that sitting back and taking the “grown-up” way out just doesn’t work when we are all faced with the manipulation of the American mob?  Have we not learned that the way to push these dogs back into their corner is to throw down the gloves, cease the soft punching, and grab them by the neck?

I say bravo, Chairman Dean.  Bravo for speaking what many think: the Republicans ARE rife with seedy, un-Christlike, white Christians.  That is the truth, plain and simple.  We all know this.  There is absolutely no grounds for Howard Dean to apologize for his remarks concerning the make-up of the Republican party simply because he is speaking the truth.  Of course, the entire Republican elected leadership is not made up of these men, but it is surely safe to say that a majority does fall under this particular moniker.  Yes, bravo to you, Howard Dean, for speaking your mind if only it is for a minute.  Why haven’t you done this more often?  Ah, but he has, my friends.

imageThere are several reasons why we haven’t “heard” from Chairman Dean.  One reason is plain: the media doesn’t like Howard Dean unless he makes such a flap that his own party starts to turn tail and run, disavowing anything he says.  This leads to the second reason: the centrist Democrats and those that worry incessantly about the next time their necks are in the guillotine consistently shy away from telling the truth in a forward and clear manner.  There is a reason why political-speak exists: it is employed to confuse us, the people of America, with vague points and noncommittal speech.  This manner of speaking has sprung forth from the filthy womb of business-speak, another way to “talk around the issues.” You’ve seen Office Space, right?  That’s what I’m talking about.  Politicians have learned quite a bit from the dirty barrel bottomed men of capitalism.  Or, have these men of black hearts become our politicians?  The line is so blurred that one cannot tell in these times.  Either way, corporate interests, media exploitation, and fear have taken such a firm hold at the behest of the Bush administration that when the truth is somehow outed, the dogs are unleashed.  Just ask the mainstream press after the release of the Downing Street Memos.

Much has been made of the Downing Street Memos over the last two weeks or so.  Countless bloggers have wondered where the media was for all this.  Why wasn’t anyone asking the “tough questions” during President Bush’s recent press conference?  Why wasn’t print media exposing this memo for all the evil that it showed?  There is a simple answer for this: slow released lies.  I have to agree with some editors that said, initially, that the memos contained no new information.  They didn’t.  We all knew this.  But, why we all knew this is really the question.  Bits and pieces of this memo have entered into our media outlets and disseminated into the public over the last few years.  Nothing in this memo is new to us!  It proves nothing!  Yet, it proves everything, right?  Right.

The American mob holds information for no longer than it needs to.  Additionally, it holds no information that it deems unpatriotic.  What we had was a measured, slow release of pressure, if you will.  The regulator rocked and steamed and hissed while the pressure cooker lost its load.  Slowly it leaked, bit by bit, until the mob was numb and bored.  Had this information come out all at once like a brick through a window, we may have had something to go on.  But, no, we were all drip-fed like an I.V. until we fell into a stupor, drugged by our fear and our inability to retain information.  Still, where was the media to explain what was either their error or the administration’s manipulation of the news?

Again, there is an easy answer to this:  ask CBS and Dan Rather how they liked crossing the Republicans.  Ask Newsweek what it’s like to out the truth and still get crucified for it.  Fear has taken the media and nothing of consequence will get reported.  Get used to it.

The Downing Street Memo and Howard Dean’s truth: the newest examples of fear run amuck.