"We were told as diplomats, 'Don't ever put anything in a cable you wouldn't want on the front page of a newspaper.' It shows that they're a lot of arrogant people, that the system itself wasn't checking itself," says Ann Wright, Retired United States Army Colonel and former State Department official, of the latest documents released from WikiLeaks. Meanwhile, several of the diplomatic cables released depict possibly illegal actions by the U.S. government, and Wright notes that the chances of anyone being held accountable are slim.
Ann Wright joins Laura in studio to discuss the latest releases from WikiLeaks, what they tell us about the Defense and State departments, and what should happen--but probably won't--to the people implicated therein.
Democrats were trying to get the focus back on the parts of their agenda that could actually get through the lame duck Senate this week--that is, until the latest WikiLeaks documents got out. Now once again, the media's focus has shifted, but that doesn't make the economic situation any less dire.
Democratic strategist Karen Finney and Nation contributor and author of Herding Donkeys Ari Berman join Laura to discuss the situation in D.C., the Democratic agenda, and what hope, if any, there is for passing some last bits of legislation before the new Congress sweeps in.
Finally, Dave Zirin thinks it's high time the NCAA suspended Notre Dame's football team. Why? They've lost their respect for something far more precious than a game.
With exception of Ann, this episode is breathlessly parroting the Dems and Reps as if their official opinions matter. Their official opinions are set by their Donors. The real story here is not what these Dems and Reps are saying about tax cuts. The real story is about who are their Donors and what is the Donors agenda the Pols dare not say! You spoke to nobody from civil society who can read between the lines. Forget what the American people want. The American people don’t get what they want and that fact should be obvious to you. SCOTUS Citizen’s United says exactly who is going to get their way. You people are missing the story here. This is bloody boring chit chat today…
By Planck on November 29th, 2010 at 11:20 pm