Thursday, May 29, 2008

Nixon Goes to China

It's been over a year, so why not?

I recorded today's Countdown with Keith Olbermann because I wanted to see his interview with special guest, Scott McClellan. For the entire hour, with the exception of the last segment where he summarized the hour with John Dean, he exchanged insightful back and forth with the former Bush Press Secretary, who demonstrated a great deal of candor discussing the events of the last seven years including the "rush to war", the "complacency" of the response to Hurricane Katrina, the WMD "propaganda", Fox News as a media-outlet and the culpability of senior White House staffers who indeed leaked the identify of a CIA agent.

It's fitting, no, it's necessary for me to comment on today's interview because Mr. McClellan is indeed one of the reasons I now live and work in California. Rather, it's because of Scott McFuckington (as a friend and I would come to refer to the press secretary during the Plame debacle) that I could no longer abide the lies and mistruths that seemed to be issued continually from our nation's capitol. For two years, I thought I was going mad because I thought only a few took notice of the unrelenting and inconsistent realities. In his interview tonight, Mr. McClellan commented on the permanent campaign mentality the persisted throughout his tenure at the White House and its intent of dividing and trivializing the opposition.

Others will analyze this better, but for me it is cathartic. It's coming full circle. I wasn't going crazy, they were deceiving me. They should have (and could have) reacted faster to the hurricane, but instead chose not to. And today, I got a little bit of closure to some of this -- which I've learned that is a rare and precious gift.

New for me? I live and work in San Diego. I work in a little R&D group for a little startup implementing Linux device drivers -- I have the perfect job for me. I even get paid. And since I get paid I decided to become a new home owner. A new, first-time home owner. As weird as that is, as I was smoking a cigarette (most of my best stories involve me smoking a cigarette) outside work, I walked across our parking lot and noticed a door with a familiar logo. You see, that's why I had to comment today. Look at my first blog posts and you may see why. It has all come full-circle.


4 comments:

JamesF said...

He's back baby!

Glad to hear you're still alive and doing well.

Don't make another year before you update again.

Gagan said...

Coming to a full-circle realization is indeed a worthy moment. Glad to hear you're finding peace, and liking SD. :)

Absolut K said...

Hey there stranger! Not sure if you remember me, but it's Kim from Habitat in BR. I've been waiting for you to post. I just completed my first year in my PhD program; I didn't think I would make it. LOL

I also started a blog, something I NEVER thought I would do. HIt me up at chocolatedoc.blogspot.com

Glad to hear all is well with you!

Absolut K said...

Matty:
You will never be a dub! Great to hear from you. Thanks for hittin' me up. :)