Are Ignorant Fools Worse Than Smart Liars?

Here are three astonishingly stupid statements from three of our political leaders Senate Majority Leader, Dr. William Frist (R-TN) who is a heart surgeon said on March 17 after viewing a videotape of Terri Schiavo that it was clear she was responsive. "To be able to make a diagnosis of persistent vegetative state - which is not brain dead; it is not coma; it is a specific diagnosis and typically takes multiple examinations over a period of time because you are looking for responsiveness - I have looked at the video footage," Dr. Frist said. "Based on the footage provided to me, which was part of the facts of the case, she does respond." Congressman Tom Delay (R-TX) who faces the prospect of being jailed for fraud, said on March 20th, "Ms. Schiavo's condition, I believe, has been misrepresented by the media…Terri Schiavo is not brain dead; she talks and she laughs, and she expresses happiness and discomfort. Terri Schiavo is not on life support." And after reading the autopsy report this morning stating that Terri Schiavo's brain had atrophied to half the size of a normal brain, that she had been incapable of responding to anything, that she was brain dead, that she was blind and that she had not been abused by her husband, President Bush's Press Secretary, Scott McClellan said, “It doesn't change the position that the president took…the president believes we should stand on the side of defending and protecting life." These three statements are so stunningly fatuous they are nearly beyond belief. But of the three men, George W. Bush is the only one who can lay claim to true stupidity. Frist is willing to seem to be dimwitted and to put his integrity as a medical man on the line in service of his far-right zealotry. And DeLay is so corrupt and immoral that he will sell his opinions to the highest bidder on any issue, large or small. The question is, though, is stupidity-real or feigned-as bad as or worse than making outright false statements? Or does it amount to the same thing? Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Dick Cheney and Tony Blair knowingly and with malicious intent lied to get worldwide support for America's illegal attack on Iraq. George W. Bush also lied to get us into the war, but his lies were because he was too dumb to realize they were lies. Frist and DeLay lied about Terri Schiavo in order to push forward their own political agenda. George W. Bush is so mentally addled and incompetent that he believed last March and still believes today that keeping a dead person on machines that simulate life is protecting life. However, a third category even trumps stupidity and lying where political misconduct is concerned. And that is the category of power-mad moguls who use those who are mentally deficient and/or religious fanatics to advance their own political agendas. And in that category, we have Rupert Murdoch (owner of Fox Network, UK's Times and the New York Post), Reverend Sun Myung Moon (mastermind of the Unification Church and owner of the Washington Times and United Press International), Karl Rove (owner of Puppet President George W. Bush, the White House fascist team and the Pentagon men who like to play soldier). It may be difficult to determine who is capable of the worst public depravity-stupid people who have gained political prominence, sociopaths who stay politically prominent by lying, or power-crazed heads of corporations who will do anything to gain political prominence. What we do know is that all three categories of immoral leaders run the Bush fascist regime.