Somewhere along the line a quote has been attributed to Ronald Reagan, though I cannot find anything to verify the quote. It may be urban legend, but it is thus:
“We’re here from the government, and we’re here to help”.
Legend has it that Reagan said the words with tongue firmly planted in cheek and was designed as the words a citizen would most loathe to hear. I would agree.
Our government has become ever increasingly dishonest and, even worse, polarized to the point that that very untrustworthiness is being used with seeming impunity against their political counterparts. It has become crystal clear that the good of the country is no longer of primary concern, only the retention of power, at any cost. A perfect case in point…
The Washington Post has a story today about the practice of waterboarding as an interrogation technique, but more pertinently, the faux outrage by prominent Democrats at the “revelation” that the method is used. It is reminiscent of the claims from the very officials sitting on various intelligence committees in the Senate that they were lied to regarding weapons of mass destruction.
It turns out that in September, 2002 four members of Congress met for a briefing on the practice as laid out by the CIA. They were given a virtual tour of detention facilities and the interrogation methods described in detail. No one objected and in fact, some asked if they were “tough enough”.
Now, for political gain and political gain only, the story of the CIA destroying interrogation tapes is front page news. Congress is vowing to investigate the incident in an attempt to embarrass the current administration, and bemoaning the fact that the evidence has been destroyed and that they’ll never know what these interrogations entailed, when all they have to do is ask the current Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
She was one of the members of Congress present at the CIA briefing in 2002. She’s also one of the administration’s most boisterous critics. She wants us to believe that she’s “here to help”.
If only Ronnie were here to help…
-Woody
