NYT: THE GRAY LADY (FINALLY) GETS OFF HER KNEES
by 4thepeople
Mon Dec 05, 2005 at 10:34:30 AM PDT
The New York Times -- the venerable Gray Lady herself -- seems finally to have gotten off her knees today. She has stopped mumbling, and -- at least today -- is now speaking out clearly against what we progressives knew from the start -- that Bushco was, is, and always will be bent on nothing less than the de-democratization of America.
That thing about dictators being fine as long as I
am the dictator? That was a joke, son. The thing is, you don't have to believe everything that Freud said, to know the truth of at least one thing he said: He who jokes, confesses.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/12/5/123430/466
Here are snippets of today's NYT editorial:
Editorial
Fixing the Game
Published: December 5, 2005
The rules of American democracy say every president may install his own team of like-minded people in the government - even at a place like the Justice Department, which is at its root a law-enforcement agency and not a campaign branch office. But the Bush administration seems to be losing sight of the fact that the rules also say the majority party of the moment may not use its powers to strip citizens of their rights, politicize the judicial system or rig the election process to keep itself in office.
But The Washington Post's Dan Eggen reported last week that the Justice Department has been suppressing for nearly two years a 73-page memo in which six lawyers and two analysts in the voting rights section, including the group's chief lawyer, unanimously concluded that the Texas redistricting plan of 2003 illegally diluted the votes of blacks and Hispanics in order to ensure a Republican majority in the state's Congressional delegation. That plan was shoved through the Texas State Legislature by Representative Tom DeLay, who abused his federal position in doing so and is now facing criminal charges over how money was raised to support the redistricting.
The administration's abuse of its narrow electoral majority extends to other areas. Mr. DeLay's requirement that lobbying firms contribute only to Republicans and hire his loyalists comes to mind.
Mr. Bush and his team don't understand that they merely hold the current majority in a system designed to bring periodic changes in the governing party and to protect the rights and values of the minority party. The idea that the winners should trash the system to make sure the democratic process ended with them was discredited back around the time of the Bolsheviks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/05/opinion/05mon1.html