George Kelly, a new friend of mine, emailed me a link to an article in the NY Times about Bush pushing through two controversial appointees essentially bypassing the Democratic-controlled senate, essentially bypassing the idea that we have in this country of the separation of powers, checks and balances. The NY Times fails to mention the corruption and abuse of power that the Bush administration is displaying with this move. On this point they are utterly spineless and state only the barest necessary factual details rather than making the appropriate connections dictated by journalistic integrity. At issue, are the appointments of Otto J. Reich and Eugene Scalia, son of Antonin Scalia. Otto Reich is a criminal leftover from the Iran-Contra scandal during which time he engaged in prohibited acts of domestic propaganda. Yes, in other words, he engaged in a campaign to manipulate American public opinion by writing editorials under the name of a contra leader. He is a criminal, a propagandist, and a liar. This is only what we know about. All of this would not have been a problem for our government except that he was doing this in our country to our own people. The NY Times makes a very bland statement with regards to his culpability:
- “A government investigation concluded that Mr. Reich’s office engaged in prohibited acts of domestic propaganda, like writing letters to the op-ed pages of American newspapers to appear as if they came from a contra leader.”
So the investigation concluded that he committed these crimes? Why not just say he did? The connection to ‘Cuban exiles’ is also weakly stated. Apparently, this is a bone thrown to the Cuban-Americans because of the excellent job they did making sure Bush won Florida. What kind of message does this send about the nature of this administration? Placing a convicted criminal, arguably a fascist anti-communist, and propagandist in a high-profile foreign policy position. The paragraph on Otto Reich ends happily with this oblique and unnecessary statement: “Republicans in support of the Reich nomination say he is well qualified for the job.” Of course to them he is well qualified. When’s Ollie North getting his appointment?
The second appointment is the son of Antonin Scalia, ‘labor’ lawyer Eugene Scalia. The NY Times fails to mention what sort of labor lawyer he is, namely one who fights against organized labor. They also fail to mention how Eugene Scalia’s law firm helped Bush win in Florida and how his father, the arch-conservative Antonin Scalia, played his part in Florida by helping to stop the vote recount. It’s typical how out in the open Republicans are with their corruption. I also have to give them credit for their sense of irony and humor in supporting the appointment of an anti-unionist to the Department of Labor. This whole story barely warranted a page and was barely mentioned on the front page.