Bob's Links and Rants

Welcome to my rants page! You can contact me by e-mail: bob@goodsells.net. Blog roll. Site feed.

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Shut up! Just shut up!

The Repugs treat the country like Bill O'Reilly treats his "guests." From Josh Marshall:
Now, the youth voter participation group Rock The Vote has been pushing this issue [the possibility of a draft] recently, calling for an election-year debate on the topic in ways you can see if you do a quick google search with their name in it.

And what has the response been from the president?

This week RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie sent the group a 'cease and desist' letter threatening legal action against the group and raising the possibility of seeking the revocation of the group's status as a tax-exempt 501c3 organization if the group did not cease discussing the draft issue.

Claims that a draft is possible, Gillespie argued, are so ridiculous on their face that the the group could only be acting from 'malicious intent and a reckless disregard for the truth.' (Those, of course, are catchphrases laying the groundwork for legal action.)

Gillespie's rationale for arguing that there is no basis for discussing the possibility of a draft is the say-so of the president. Gillespie quotes him saying, "We don't need the draft. Look, the all-volunteer force is working ..."

That, to Gillespie, is -- quite literally -- the end of the debate.
Two years ago, claims that Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction were said to be ridiculous as well. If the phrase "malicious intent and a reckless disregard for the truth" ever applied to anyone, it applies to Bush and the Repugs.