"young, cool, charismatic, and "not Bush."" Amy

these words were used to ignore Chicago Machine Politician...

If anyone had paid attention to THOSE words, then his actions would make perfect sense.

Long ago, an outright lie damaged a politician. The line was that politicians were almost all honorable, truthful men working for the common good.

Political entrepreneurs like Obama found, amazingly, that lies work, even outright lies, even lies which contradict statements made two weeks earlier. Politicians now lie openly while smiling and accusing their opponents of hiding the truth. The wider good doesn't exist. The public congratulates itself for being sophisticated. "Of course my politician lies to gain advantage over the opposition. But, he doesn't lie to me; I know what he means and I understand his loyalty to the cause. My leader right or wrong."

A small problem. There is no reason or analysis in a world of lies. All loyalty and support becomes tribal. "My guys are angels and your guys are filth." The people are betrayed in the end. They think that crooks and liars are somehow working for their benefit.

I Invested With Bernie Madoff Because I Knew He Was Cheating
=== ===
[edited] Many Wall Streeters suspected Bernie Madoff was cheating, so why did these smart and skeptical investors give money to him? They assumed Madoff was illegally trading for their benefit on inside information from his market-making business. They didn't consider that he was running an old-fashioned Ponzi scheme, stealing their money.
=== ===

The city of Detroit was a Democrat paradise of strong unions, generous city pensions, welfare benefits, and public projects employing the connected. Why did it suddenly collapse into bankruptcy and physical ruin?

No one can spread the truth in an organization of lies. An individual may see something important that is clearly false, but he can't know if this is an error or a protected lie of upper management. The more false it is, the more likely it is protected. He will be silent. Someone else will have to correct the problem. Obvious problems multiply. The company or government eventually fails.

Is this a problem for you personally? Think of the advice about poker games: If you don't know who the patsy is after 30 minutes, then you are the patsy. The average American is not an intellectual, but he thinks that he is street smart. Politicians are lying to him. He's the patsy.

"Brennan has apologized, but..."

He's a liar. His apology is just another lie. Such people will make their deepest apology while doing the thing they're apologizing for.

Long ago, an outright lie damaged a politician. The line was that politicians were almost all honorable, truthful men working for the common good.

I do not think anyone believed that, but people were rather undone that Richard Nixon looked into cameras and lied for 25 months straight, and not just members of the general public; working politicians were agape at some of Nixon's doings (George Bush, Leslie Arends, Barber Conable, and Robert McClory to name a few). Ron Nessen reported many years ago that Gerald Ford never referred to Nixon with the jocularity with which he referred to other politicians, which generally included first names and familiars. Richard Nixon was 'Nixon', uttered with annoyance and asperity. The man had violated the code that national politicians maintained among themselves.

That was then. This is now.

So if I break into a few senate computer systems and get caught, will they fire me from my job and tell me to go away, or will I wind up doing time and being legally forbidden to touch a keyboard for however many years?

This is the thing that gets me most ticked off about the two-party system. If Republicans and Democrats disagree with their fellow party members in Congress, they just keep their mouths shut.

For those older Republicans who say something that appears to perpetuate the myth that ALL Republicans are racist, sexist, homophobic and just about everything else negative a person can be, you'd think that their younger colleagues would speak up and let the public know that this is not the direction the party is trying to move. But they don't.

When the Democrats were forcing the Affordable Care Act through Congress, there were many in the party who had major doubts about it. But none of them spoke up beforehand.

Why won't those members of Congress who claim to be of independent mind take more action? Because they won't get re-elected. The corporations who back the politicians' campaigns will just put their money behind an opponent who will beat them in the primary. It appears that there is almost no member of Congress who is willing to risk a position for which they had to sacrifice so much of their soul by doing the right thing.

Ugh. I put that last post on the wrong page.

Oh, Senator Kettle, that CIA pot certainly is black, isn't it?

This from the Senate Intelligence chair who gleefully agrees with warrantless surveillance of citizens. I hope the spooks got a ton of dirt on her.

And that they use it.

"No one can spread the truth in an organization of lies. "

Worse yet, when this occurs, people get cynical. They start to believe that there is no such thing as truth, or if there is, it is so deeply buried as to be unreachable. So, if lies are all there is, why not use lies to one's advantage? Of course, this becomes a handy all-purpose moral escape hatch, as well as yet another tool to sway the gullible.

"I hope the spooks got a ton of dirt on her.

And that they use it."

Won't work. The IRS will see to that.