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Other Voices
One thing led to another and Rand ended up in the house crying. When they were finally able to calm him down, our mothers asked him what was wrong. "Marvin hit me back," he said. Somehow I was reminded of that story this week by all the debate about the commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence. Rand's logic was that he could do whatever he wanted to do with no repercussions, but Marvin couldn't. Of course, Rand was just five or six years old at the time. The talking heads that are applying similar logic to the Libby decision are considerably older and should know better. You can't turn on the TV news these days without seeing one of two things. Either you see Republicans telling us that Scooter Libby is a great American who did nothing wrong and that President Bush did the right thing - indeed, a brave thing - by keeping him out of jail. Or you see Democrats who feign indignation that cronyism is now rampant in the White House. Like Captain Renault in "Casablanca," they're shocked - shocked - to find politics going on in here. All of this is fine, I suppose, until you think back six and a half years to the end of the Clinton administration. On his last day in office, Clinton issued 140 pardons and several commutations, including pardons for his half-brother, Roger, and a number of friends and associates. There was plenty of outrage to go around back then, too. Only then the roles were reversed. It was the Democrats who were the Great Defenders and it was Republicans in the Renault role. I covered politics for a long time. But I got out of it when I realized something: I was sick to death of listening to them. Hypocrisy is alive and well in our political system. Don't believe me? Try comparing something your favorite politician - of any party - said recently with something said when a different party was in power. Hypocrisy certainly isn't new to politics. But the depth of it today seems to drown out any other discussion, what little of it there is. We have important issues to tackle in this country - immigration, Social Security, healthcare reform. And we have an important election coming up next year in which it seems half the country is running. Yet I'm struggling to find someone I truly support, someone who stands up for what they believe and what they think is right. I'm tired of carefully crafted statements designed to energize one's base. It ought not be hard to stand up and say what you believe, political affiliation be damned. In Libby's case, his supporters argue that since he wasn't the man who leaked Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA operative, he should never have been charged since no crime ever occurred. But a crime did occur. Libby lied. And under oath. Seems to me there were more than a few calls for investigations and impeachments and resignations and indictments when Bill Clinton did the same thing. And rightly so. Take politics out of it and you'd be hard pressed to find many Americans who truly believe that a person who lies to police and who lies under oath shouldn't go to prison. For heaven's sake, we sent Paris Hilton to the pokey for more time than an experienced White House operative who certainly knows the definition of perjury. But when politics is added to the mix, the concoction becomes bitter. It makes them all look foolish. Fortunately, perhaps, Americans are catching on. Seen President Bush's approval ratings lately? The only thing worse is Congress' approval rating. The president and Congress are now thought of in the same breath as used-car salesmen, lawyers, mob bosses and - gasp - journalists. Welcome to the bottom of the heap, boys and girls. I'd love to find a politician who believes, as I do, that what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong. If you break the law, you suffer the consequences. Judging by the current crop in Washington, I've got a long wait ahead of me.
Mitch Clarke is executive editor of The Times. He can be reached at (770) 718-3403 or mclarke@ gainesvilletimes.com. His column appears Sundays.
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