I'm sick of this crap

I'm really ticked off after reading this article in the British newspaper Independent. Andrew Gumbel covers a wide range of issues ranging from the FCC and Janet Jackson's "Nipplegate" scandal to implications that the media has been intimidated into less negative coverage of the "religious right."

Is it really plausible that America has been washed by a spontaneous wave of puritan righteousness, or is something trickier going on? Jackson's real misfortune may not have been what she called a "wardrobe malfunction" so much as the fact that it occurred at the start of the most contentious election year in memory.

From the start, she suspected that the outrage vented against her was deliberately manufactured - by the Republican Party and its more overt supporters in the media - as a distraction from the very damaging news then coming in about Iraq's clear lack of weapons of mass destruction. That week, President George Bush's own weapons inspector, David Kay, had reported back that the Iraqi cupboard of chemical, biological and nuclear capabilities was entirely bare. While the Janet débâcle was in full swing, the President took advantage of the breast chatter to announce a politically uncomfortable Congressional investigation into the uses and possible misuses of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Give me a freakin' break. Here we have yet another kook advancing crackpot theories about Bush planning and orchestrating anything to keep focus off his "failures." I'm amused that Mr. Gumbel thinks Bush has the power to direct the coverage of the liberal, hate-filled, partisan, and without-any-journalistic-integrity mainstream media, but not surprised. After all, that single incorrect view does coincide with his other ridiculous assertions/implications.

On the eve of last month's Democratic National Convention in Boston, pro-Bush protesters held up a sign at a John Kerry campaign stop in Ohio reading: "Who shares your values?" - alongside pictures of Monica Lewinsky, Howard Stern, Whoopi Goldberg (who made genitalia jokes about the President at a fundraiser) and the outspokenly anti-Bush comedian and writer Al Franken.

The implication couldn't be more clear: America is battling to save its moral soul against a Sodom and Gomorrah of godless Hollywood garishness. In this world, Bill Clinton is an irredeemable sinner and John Kerry is - worse still - French. As long as the political debate is consumed by such nonsense, the chances of Iraq, or the budget deficit, or the lack of affordable healthcare, becoming the topic of the moment are considerably diminished.

And yet you, Mr. Gumbel, think that Bush is a liar and a cheat and a power-hungry oil baron with secret Saudi alliances. You're part of the group that set themselves up so that anything bad for America is good for them; you would hang Bush for liberating Iraq, or hang him in a year because he for not liberating Iraq when we discover Saddam funded the first suicide bomber on American soil. Good grief; you will spin everything to make Bush look bad (see here). To quote you, Mr. Gumbel, "As long as the political debate is consumed by such nonsense, the chances of Iraq, or the budget deficit, or the lack of affordable healthcare, becoming the topic of the moment are considerably diminished."

The shadow of Janet Jackson also has the secondary effect of intimidating the broadcast media - especially that part that might ordinarily be inclined to rail against the sanctimonious puritanism of the religious right.

Your naiveté is staggering, Mr. Gumbel (either that or your truth suppression). As if the media could ever be intimidated into being nicer to the "religious right." If anything, coverage is harsher, especially since most in that group identify with your devil incarnate, George W. Bush.

A handful of artists and musicians have gone further in condemning the Bush administration's approach. Powell may, in fact, be the first FCC chairman to inspire not one but two songs by well-known artists. The first, by the country rocker Steve Earle, a well-known activist for liberal causes, is called simply "F the FCC". Its chorus pulls no punches: "I can say anything I want/ So f*ck the FCC/ F*ck the FBI/ F*ck the CIA/ I'm living in the motherf*cking USA."

Boy, if I were a lib, I'd sure be glad these nice people were on my side. Thank God my party doesn't have representative like Steve Earle. Does the word "maturity" come to mind, anyone?

The Bush administration's case was undermined when Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, was caught using highly abusive language on the Senate floor to advise a venerable Democrat to perform an anatomically impossible maneuver. The Republican rank and file rushed to Cheney's defense, saying he was merely letting off steam in a harmless way. But they have also taken a bit of a break from lording it over everyone else. The Vice-President is lucky that he didn't utter the fateful phrase on the radio. Or bare a nipple.

Not that I don't think the Vice President's words were rude and inappropriate, but I hardly think they are in the same indecency category as Justin Timberlake's purposeful exposure of Janet Jackson on live television. I think you know this, too, Mr. Gumbel. Obviously, I don't defend Cheney's words as "letting off steam in a harmless way," but 1) they weren't intended for the public, and 2) the public didn't see or hear them. The FCC indecency issue is not about private words or actions, but about publicly broadcasted material.

Interestingly enough, Mr. Gumbel doesn't describe Steve Earle's song as containing "highly abusive language," as he describes the Vice President's remarks. Apparently that description is only used to cast a negative light on one's ideological enemies.

The Vice-President is lucky that he didn't utter the fateful phrase on the radio. Or bare a nipple.

That's the thing, Mr. Gumbel, he didn't utter anything on the radio, and he never would do such a thing. It's not my candidate that describes our president's current battlefield in the War on Terror with "highly abusive language." Oh yeah, that's John Kerry. Cheney's words are not excusable, but they are understandable, considering the situation. Cheney's actions didn't fit what we know about him; Jackson's and Timberlake's definitely fit their image. If Sen. Joseph Lieberman came out spewing Bush-hating rhetoric, I'd be surprised. When Michael Moore does do it, I'm not a bit surprised.