So, I’m still recovering from my scandal screed, but I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the underlying question of why this series of scandal after scandal hasn’t seemed to hurt the Bush administration. My default theory is that something like 51% of Americans are crazy, but maybe there’s actually something deeper going on here.
Peter Daou thinks so, and outlines in a piece on Salon the ten steps that unfold as a Bush administration scandal breaks and is eventually forgotten (or at least accepted). There have been enough scandals now that the pattern has become very familiar, even if it hasn’t been stated this well before. I think his analysis of what has happened, and what will likely happen again several more times, is pretty much spot on.
Here’s the final two steps of Daou’s analysis (but do click through and read the whole thing):
9. Polls will emerge with ‘proof’ that half the public agrees that Bush should have the right to “protect Americans against terrorists.” Again, the issue will be framed to mask the true nature of the malfeasance. The media will use these polls to create a self-fulfilling loop and convince the public that it isn’t that bad after all. The president breaks the law. Life goes on.
10. The story starts blending into a long string of administration scandals, and through skillful use of scandal fatigue, Bush weathers the storm and moves on, further demoralizing his opponents and cementing the press narrative about his ‘resolve’ and toughness. Congressional hearings might revive the issue momentarily, and bloggers will hammer away at it, but the initial hype is all the Democratic leadership and the media can muster, and anyway, it’s never as juicy the second time around…
Rinse and repeat.
Working the security/fear angle plus “scandal fatigue”. Man, that’s it exactly.
Now, for a dose of well-deserved fear, keep Daou’s pattern in mind and read this:
“What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security.”
To understand the fear part, go read that paragraph in context.
What was that Clarence Darrow quote about history, again?
Maybe this scandal won’t unfold like all the rest… the failure to enshrine some of PATRIOT permanently, and of the ANWAR thing make me think that the big Republican machine is starting to splinter seriously. Fingers are crossed.
