October 29, 2005

SCHOOL FOR NON-SCANDAL

        Afficionados of scandal know the really juicy ones involve sex, lies, money and politics. Best of all are scandals in which hubris is followed by humiliation, and in which someone previously thought to be virtuous is exposed. Horsefeathers always turns hopefully to Page Six, after checking the box scores. We take non-partisan pleasure from scandals, since they derive from unchanging human nature and afflict liberals as well as conservatives. Regrettably, the 'Scooter Libby' scandal is pretty thin gruel. Where's the sex angle? Maureen Dowd sure tried when she spoke of Judy Miller's "entanglement" with Libby, but even she subsequently backed away from that one. Money? Nothing there. Lies? Okay, perhaps Libby lied to the grand jury (we'll adhere to the increasingly rare notion that an indictment is not proof of guilt)and that's a bad and stupid thing to do when there was no underlying crime, but is it scandalous? All one has to do to answer the question is recall the Clinton lies. Blow jobs in the oval office. Now there was something worth lying about! Besides we've known for centuries that government officials lie, as do journalists. In the 18th century, Dr. Johnson wrote: "...An Ambassador is said to be a man of virtue sent abroad to tell lies for the advantage of his country; a news-writer is a man without virtue, who lies at home for his own profit..."
        Fortunately, there is future scandal potential in the prospect of bloviating self righteous journalists, the Tim Russerts of the MSM on the witness stand. Hypocrisy exposed can be satisfying, even in the absence of sex and money motives. Of course sex has not been entirely absent from the Libby investigation; the talking heads have worked themselves into a state of quasi-masturbatory excitement leading up to the indictment. However it's pretty obvious that their agenda-- bringing down the President and reliving their role in the Vietnam war, arouses only themselves and their fellow Bush haters of the Cindy Sheehan-Lyndon LaRouche-Michael Moore-Howard Dean left. Deep down they have to be disappointed by the prosecutor, Robert Fitzgerald for his statement that "This indictment's not about the propriety of the war." That's exactly what the MSM wants it to be about, and without that, where's the scandal?