Truth and (No) Consequences

I've been watching a lot of CSPAN/CSPAN-2 lately. This morning they have Gina Cooper, organizer of the YearlyKos Convention for newblogs, answering questions. One self-identified conservative Republican called in to say that Goerge Bush would go down in history as the most selfless and compassionate president ever in the White House. "I think he didn't always tell the truth, but thank God for that," he said. Ms. Cooper naturally expressed some dismay at this, but her response was hardly eloquent. Here's what she should have said.

When the President lies to the American people, it is like the CEO or board of directors of the largest company in the world lieing to their shareholders. They keep the people happy and in the dark while doing what they please over what would undoubtably be overwhelming objection from those from whom their power originates. This happened recently when the lies of Enron executivies Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling resulted in thousands of people losing their retirement investments. They were both recently convicted and will likely spend the rest of their lives in prison. When President Bush lied to the American people about the intelligence supporting an invasion of Iraq, thousands of people lost their lives. I leave you to decide the appropriate consequence for this offense.