DAS Blog

Some liberals lambast the mainstream media for dutifully reporting Republican talking points (is this part of the media manipulation that Gonzales pointed refused to deny is occuring?) about the Democratic opposition to illegal spying being a loosing issue for the Democrats. But aside from the fact that when you talk about something enough it becomes true (especially when the media, which is assumed by many, in spite of all evidence, to be on the side of the Democrats talks about what is good for the Democrats), the mainstream media may very well be right.

The problem is that a good percentage of people are hearing about Bush's illegal wiretapping and are saying "this guy is willing to break the law to fight terrorists? that means he's really dedicated" even if the reality is that all it means is that Bush doesn't give a flying Cheney and is so lazy he can't even be bothered to follow the law. But, anyway, too many people accept the argument of Roper:

‘Roper: So now you’d give the Devil benefit of law!

‘More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get to the Devil?

‘Roper: I’d cut down every law in England to do that!

‘More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you -- where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast -- man’s laws, not God’s -- and if you cut them down -- and you’re just the man to do it -- d’you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.’

that when it comes to fighting the devil you must bend the law -- to many people find More's position, well, utopian .. and hence silly.

Of course the reality is that More is right, but people who fancy themselves to be tough minded often are so tough they can manage to ignore reality when it bites them in the face.

But given this electoral environment in which so many people have bought into the un-democratic and (in the Roman sense) fascist Roper-Republican mindset that laws are luxuries in a time of fighting the devil, how are we Democrats ever going to get this democratic republic of ours back?

What if the media is right (and that in large part because, out of the interests of their corporate masters, they have helped to craft this opinion in the body politic) that people will actually support the President because he has broken the law? Pretty frightening to me -- but there are some frightening people out there. Have you ever been to Bobo's world (Bobo hasn't, of course)?

And yet the fate of our republic lies in the hands of such people who don't even understand how a democratic republic is supposed to work and how our country has worked, albeit with flaws, like gangbusters?

Gevalt!