There are none so blind as they that will not see.

William J. Clinton looked into the cameras, and with all the sincerity he could muster, said: "I did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinky." (January 1998) He was lying. He lied because he had been having an adulterous affair with Ms. Lewinsky and was embarrassed by being exposed. The affair was not a criminal act in itself, Ms. Lewinsky being a consenting adult. However President Clinton had been lying to his wife and friends about the affair, and lied to the American people to cover that up. The Republicanns in congress tried to impeach him for this. In fact, with bombs and missiles starting to rain down on Baghdad, the House began its historic debate - the first for 130 years - on whether to impeach the president. Being a Democratic "war president" meant only- at least to the Republicans in Congress- that there was one more reason to attach the Commander in Chief. Luckily the American people had better sense.

"Let me just say something about leaks in Washington," George W. Bush told reporters in September 2003. "There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There's leaks at the executive branch, there's leaks in the legislative branch, there's just too many leaks. I want -- and if there's a leak out of the administration, I want to know who it is. And if a person has violated law, the person will be taken care of." Later, Bush looked into the cameras, and with his most sincere look (the one without the usual smirk), said: "I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action." (September 30, 2003) Both times he was lying. He lied because he was trying to conceal the fact his administration had leaked misleading classified information in an attempt to discredit Ambassador Joe Wilson, who, with his wife, a covert CIA agent, had been sent to Africa to determine if Iraq had tried to buy Uranium to make nuclear weapons, as the White House had claimed. They found Iraq had not, so information about the trip and Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was leaked by top administration officials to selected friendly press. Of course Bush had signed an Order allowing him to declassify such information but he had not followed his own rules, and by leaking Plame's cover he endangered many hundreds of other agents and operations. The Republicans in congress refuse to even consider impeaching him for this. Just about 5 years after trying to impeach Bill Clinton the same Republican Congress has decided that being a "war president"- even if he started an unnecessary war and conducted it poorly- means the Commander in Chief has complete carte blanch and full immunity.

I have actually figured out why some Republicans still cannot admit what the entire Bush Administration has done is enough to impeach them all. It is because of what they did to Bill Clinton. They MUST keep their heads buried in the sand because given how they attacked Clinton for ONE lie regarding a private matter, it is obvious that- at least as concerns Bush, Cheney, Rove and Rumsfeld- impeachment alone is no where near a sufficient penalty. We are talking treason, war crimes, intentionaly starting a war of aggression based on lies, which killed thousands of US service personnel and many, many tens of thousands of innocent civilians. We DO NOT HAVE a penalty for the crimes they have committed. (Yes, the death penalty does apply in times of war, but THOUSANDS of deaths?)

Of course Republicans cannot "see" the truth. Its a form of hysterical blindness, I suppose. Of course the neo-cons are still lost in their monomania, and the extreme, fanatic "Christians" ( I apologize to real Christians) are so blinded by their hatred of gay families that nothing else matters. But as regards the majority of everyday Republicans- good, intelligent, upstanding, ORDINARY, the only explanation is a psychotic break of some kind.

"Hysterical Blindness" is a well-documented reaction when someone sees something so terrible that their minds simply cannot acknowledge seeing it, so the brain shuts off all future visual stimuli to protect itself. Here Republicans CANNOT admit even to themselves that they supported someone who has done the things Bush has done, so they refuse to see what he has done. This is an extreme form of a common reaction. Many times after an election where one candidate wins and then shows total incompentence, EVERYONE will say "I didn't vote for him" even though obviously SOMEONE did. But many people convince even themselves that THEY did not. Given that the Bush administration is scores of times worse (I honestly believe I do not overstate the problem when I say that the Bush Administration will be remembered as the most criminal, most destructive to American Freedoms and Values, the most harmful to our World Standing, Economics, Environment and our great, great, great grandchildren's future, in American history) the reaction is as many times as strong.

The good news is that hysterical blindness is nearly always temporary- as the brain processes what happened, and the mind copes, the sight comes back. First in flashes, then fully. We can see this happening with many Republicans. The risk is that if we push them too hard- faster than their minds can process the truth- we risk driving them into some permanant break with reality. So do not push your Republican friends- lead them by the hand gently, guide them as you would a blind person,, and soon we will all be seeing the truth together.

And if you still cannot find even one slim ray of light--- Remember: Oh yeah, gay people can't get married! Its all been worth it.

jessie