Focusing the rage

I think Peter Daou get's it right. The Bush administration's sheer number of scandals, evidence of incompetence, and uncoverings of lies -- together with a lazy press looking for "access" instead of corruption -- makes it easy for the public to get lost in a fog of accusations, counter-accusations. Each of which is gone by the next news cycle, or usurped by the latest missing blonde woman.

From a purely sensory perspective, it's natural to chase the flak. We're conditioned to respond to incoming fire. It's reflexive. But when the fire is coming from all sides, and coming relentlessly, the urge is to stop defending and curl up and give up. This is a process the Cheneys and Roves of this world understand all too well. It's no accident that the scandals get more and more outrageous - after all, the whole point is to have the opposition frantically racing around, chasing stories, distracted and exhausted, wearing itself out like a kitten in a catnip-doused, mouse-filled room.

The amazing thing is that so many of Bush's opponents continue to play along. The sheer inability to put on blinders and drive one scandal home, to take it to its ultimate conclusion, is a failing of magnificent proportions. The warrantless spying fiasco is a perfect example. The day the NSA story broke, it should have been the only issue discussed by Democrats and progressive activists, the only one. Day in, day out. No matter if thirty other scandals intervened.

Bush and his team count on the opposition's lack of focus, joyfully handing them more catnip. Perhaps that explains the ubiquitous and infamous administration smirk, most recently gracing Alberto Gonzales' face as he humored the Senate Judiciary Committee about breaking the law.

And people wonder why bloggers are angry?

The next time a Democrat appears on Matthews's or Russert's show and is asked by the august host if the regular ol' American voter is "turned off" by angry liberals (and at a funeral, no less...gasp and sputter), said Democrat should reply, "Damn right, we're angry. And you're blind or stupid -- or a tool of the GOP -- if you're not angry, too."

Today's newspaper is a case in point. Daou has a more complete list, but, briefly, how does one keep up?

WHITE HOUSE KNEW OF LEVEEL'S FAILURE ON NIGHT OF STORM

OFFICIAL RESIGNS PUBLIC TV POST -- Some See Political Aspect to String of Departures

Ex-Cheney Aide Testified Leak Was Ordered, Prosecutor Says

E-Mail Notes Say Lobbyist Met President Many Times

Ex-Press Aide for NASA Offers Defense

It's just tough to maintain a high level of defensive snark when you're trying to keep so many plates spinning at once.

Oh, and here's a favorite one, buried deep on A17, in the National Briefing that I think is related -- a story of the putrid convergence of the U.S. Armed Services, the GOP, and the Religious Right. In response to reports last year that chaplains and students at the Airforce Academy were imposing their conservative Christian views on others, the Air Force has instituted a "reform."

COLORADO: AIR FORCE REVISES RELIGION RULES The Air Force released new guidelines for religious expression, dropping a requirement for chaplains to respect others' rights to their own beliefs and no longer cautioning top officers about promoting their personal religious views. The revisions were welcomed by conservative Christians. But critics called the revisions a step backward and said they did nothing to protect the rights of most airmen. The original guidelines were created after accusations that evangelical Christians at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs were imposing their views on others. (AP)

Can't. Keep. Up.