Amnesty Internation: Right Elsewhere, Wrong Here

Happened to catch some of Lehrer on (GO)PBS tonight and one part of the discussion fascinated me because it's exactly my reaction.

One of the Bushie people (I can't call them apologists because the Bushies have a rule: take all credit and refuse to admit they ever did wrong) was on saying all these horrible things about Amnesty International while an AI guy said (quite correctly in my view, and I paraphrase):

"Funny. Whenever Amnesty International publishes findings that indicate there are serious human rights abuses in Syria, in Cuba, in North Korea, Iran, and China, the Bush Administration points to our organization and says, 'See! No less an august body than Amnesty International agrees these are terrible, terrible people!'

But when the issue is what human rights abuses the Bush Administration engages in, suddenly, we're pariah, traitors, and 'haters of freedom and goodness and stay-at-home Moms and Snowflake Babies and Apple Pie and McDonald's and cheap toilet paper at Wal-Mart!"

Exactly. Funny thing is, the Bushies never see any cognitive dissonance. They move in and out of lies like a motorcycle in a 10-mile slowdown and don't even blink.

And the irony? If irony is the word, that is. That there was absolutely no need for Cheney and Bush and the righties to go on the extreme campaign and attack against Amnesty International except for the little fact that the "gulag" thing is deadly - and that is the word - accurate.

Never let it be said that the Bushies will ever let a piece of truth get out there.