Thanks, Michael Moore

This Administration, since 2001, has been one of the most astounding in American history.

Those who have tried to follow current events since we were taught to do so in grade school have been on a rollercoaster ride. It seems that every few days, some new bizarre twiist to managing government comes out in the news.

Even though the news covered it quite well, the elections in 2000 had some of the most distatsteful things occurring from the repainting of Max Cleland and John McCain into something they weren't to the practice in many states of minorities being disdallowed to vote because they had the same name as a felon to the attack by a white-shirt-and-tie crowd of Washington-based Republican staffers on poll workers in Florida who were trying to recount the vote.

The rumors that the Clinton staff had removed W from all the computer keyboards to President Bush going on vacation shortly after coming to Washington to being asleep at the switch before 9/11 and then on 9/11 to promulgating a war in Iraq that was irrelevant to fighting the terrorists who did 9/11 were all just opening vollies on our senses and sensibility. Colin Powell was used by the Administration to be their front man at the UN on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (so much like General Patraeus being used by the Administration to keep the war going). Then there was Abu Graib where most of the prisoners were guys brought in because they were Arab guys who were then treated the way the Israelis treat Palestinians in prison. And the occupation of Iraq with too few troops that led to the insurgency. And on and on.

Then there was the Swift Boat ads and Jack Abramoff and Republicanizing K Street and Tom DeLay and Vice President Cheney saying the most awful things as if they were true and the President making sure dissenters were not allowed anywhere near where he was speaking and then allowing in only those loyal to him. And Alberto Gonzolaz Republicanizing the Justice Department. And on and on . . . .

I firmly believe that the strategy was intentional to pull so many bad stunts so that they kind of disappeared behind each other and fed the premise that government is bad so people would not vote or even care about what happened in politics. The voices of those outraged by everything as it happened soon were on television so much that they lost the uniqueness of their challenges. And reporters and netwoirk news executives were intimidated and the whole belief that there was news which could be unbiased becoming the "liberal press" compared the the "fair and balanced" stuff at Fox News so that now no news is given any credence because it is all boased anyway!

Into this kind of crazy setting comes Michael Moore. He picked a subject and he has stayed with it. His website has always been a source of news about some of the craziness but he has, like Al Gore, focussed on one topic among all that have flowed from the political gatling gun of this Administration and kept us focussed on something specific and have fought hard for that so that it does not get lost in the swirling absurdity called governance and news these days.

Future Americans will look back on this eight year period and wonder how we could let those people get away with so much in such a short period of time. I hope they see the evil genius in that strategy and not allow it to occur in the future. And I hope they have a Michael Moore to jump all over one subject and move toward action that helps us regain our true nature.