5/4/2005
Is Joe Klein a Mole?
Not the whiskered, sneaky, vermin kind. Well, of course, now that I put it that way...
What I mean here is the kind of mole that goes undercover, say as a journalist, with the goal of serving a government, a foreign interest, or possibly a political party.
For instance, I can't help but notice that Klein's current Time Viewpoint column consists of Republican talking points. The whole column is basically two Republican talking points with Joe Klein's by-line hacked on at the end.
- To Democrats, Social Security is just a wedge issue:
"He proposed that the system be made solvent by reducing benefits on a sliding scale, according to income. This utterly responsible and progressive proposition was greeted by phony bleats of outrage from leading Democrats, who proved once again that they are more interested in the demagogic exploitation of the issue than they are in the impact of baby boom retirement on their grandchildren." - Bush should make independence from foreign oil his legacy issue.
"Has Bush chosen the wrong issue to burnish his legacy? What if he had reversed these two priorities, gone bold on energy independence--an issue on which compromise with Democrats is possible--instead of Social Security?"
On the second, independence from foreign oil would only be possible if we radically decreased our consumption. As this article from factcheck.org points out, even if we produced as much as we consumed, we'd still be at the mercy of the Gulf states, since it's a global market.
By raising the question, however, Klein gives visibility to the so-called Energy Bill, legislation designed to profit Exxon-Mobil while being meaningless as far as conservation is concerned.
This wouldn't be the first time Klein has helped the Republicans. Primary Colors was a hatchet job of the first order. And despite protestations that Klein was just speaking satire to power, I find it curious that Klein sees no reason to satirize the bush crowd.
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