Olberman Compares Bush Government Gangsters to Sopranos

May 11, 2006 - 02:25

I'm glad we finally have a chance to talk about how the Bush family is like the Soprano's.

When in doubt, they try to make you afraid.

When unpopular, they try to make you afraid.

When they are losing their hold on power, because of their record,
they intend to make you afraid.

The only reason you know this President has no energy plan for America is because he can't hide the price of gasoline at the pumps.

He'd make it a secret if he could, so don't be surprised if the President tries to classify the price of gasoline as a national security matter. Rep. Jim McDermett

http://newsbusters.org/node/5310

Keith Olbermann, in opening teaser: "Comparing the family Bush to the family Soprano:

To break into the inner circle, do you have to break the law? Friday, Porter Goss quits in haste as CIA chief, Wednesday Porter Goss gets the Congressional Distinguished Service Award.

Months and years ago, General Michael Hayden dreams up the warrantless wiretap, Monday General Michael Hayden becomes CIA chief. Jonathan Turley on making your bones at the Bush Bada Bing."
Olbermann opened the show:

"The Bush administration is nothing if not counterintuitive. With disapproval numbers now rivaling Richard Nixon's, Mr. Bush still nominated for his new CIA chief a man almost guaranteed to draw confirmation fight. General Michael Hayden, creator of the domestic eavesdropping program. Mr. Bush says General Hayden is perfect for the CIA, and perhaps he was chosen for elevation despite or because of a characteristic that is normally seen as a liability: his arguable willingness to thumb his nose at constitutional law. That notion has been suggested by the noted professor in that subject, Jonathan Turley, who will join us presently. Mr. Turley likens the Bush team, in fact, to the Sopranos at the end of his piece:
Get criminal and get made. He cites other administration officials whose criminal acts, or potentially criminal behavior, have posed no barrier to advancement, like Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, who as White House counsel may well have been the architect of the kinds of torture, at least the legalese for the torture that led to the Abu Ghraib abuses. As promised, we're joined now by professor of constitutional law, George Washington University, Jonathan Turley. Thanks again for your time, sir."


"We do not torture"

"I did not want a war"

"W" is for women














Well, you know, this is a pretty impressive rogues' gallery. You know, from his very first term, Bush shocked many people by reaching out to officials who had either been convicted or pleaded guilty to crimes during the Reagan and Bush administrations, and others who many felt should have been indicted. They included people like Elliott Abrams, who pleaded guilty to three crimes. They were misdemeanors. John Poindexter, who was convicted of three crimes. Those were thrown out on a mere technicality later. You had Otto Reich, who was accused of a domestic surveillance, propaganda program. You have a very long list of people. And what emerged through the two terms was that people who seemed to be accused of violating the law had a rapid ascent in this administration. And one has to wonder whether this is suddenly a criteria, that the President likes people who are willing to go to the edge of the law and beyond it to achieve what he believes is a worthy purpose."
...
the real check and balance for this type of thing rests with Congress. And Congress has done nothing. Do you realize that Congress has not even held a substantive investigation of the NSA operation, an operation that most of us believe was criminal, that the federal law defines quite clearly as a federal crime? Now, instead of investigating that, the Congress actually gave the President a standing ovation during the State of the Union speech when he promised to continue to violate that law, when he continued, he said he would continue this program. And the people who were responsible for passing the law that he was violating gave him a standing ovation. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen in my life. But now we have the architect of that program, who's been nominated to head the CIA. Now, that was not a natural choice because if you look at his record, it was actually fairly mixed. We're talking about General Hayden. General Hayden's accused of wasting as much as $2 billion when he was at the NSA on a program called Trail Blazer. Almost $2 billion. Normally that would be an impediment to advancement."

...

Keep watching for more on the gangster government of the USA.