For I Know That the Hypnotized Never Lie

Back in August, at Senator Ron Wyden’s Town Hall on Iraq, I asked him if he trusted the Bush administration. To my face, he didn’t explicitly say so, but he did imply it with his recitation of an old Russian phrase “Trust but verify”.

Wyden’s staff at the time tried to make the point to others that “On Iraq, Iran, and civil liberties, Sen. Wyden trusts Bush as far as he can throw Karl Rove.”

But the impression, for me, is hard to shake even after five months and the beginnning of a new year. Because this letter arrived yesterday, in response to a note of mine about warrantless wiretapping to the senator’s office.

December 12, 2007

Dear Mr. Plant:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the revelations that President Bush authorized various government agencies to spy on American citizens. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

Like most Oregonians, I was stunned to hear the Administration admit that the President directed the National Security Agency (NSA to eavesdrop on Americans’ phone calls without first getting a warrant. Although I am a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, this program’s existence had been withheld from me for years.

It goes on like that.

You could construe that second paragraph as saying that Wyden was surprised to hear Bush publicly acknowledging the existence of the program that had been kept from Wyden for years, but even that doesn’t seem all that unlikely to this Oregonian, when the government has defended interrogation methods considered torture by the Geneva Conventions, invaded Iraq without any real proof of WMDs, and screwed New Orleans over.

No, to me it sounds like an admission of shock over the administration’s actions — after years of duplicity and brazen violation of the Constitution — from someone who still seems to be giving them the benefit of his trust.

What possible purpose does saying that he was “stunned” serve? Apart from making him look clueless when he’s supposed to be the one providing oversight of the world’s largest intelligence-gathering apparatus?

Take the stunning poll at Loaded Orygun.