THIS FAR AND NO FURTHER
A Timeline of Events Surrounding the Radical Right's Attempt to Subvert American Democracy
Written and Compiled by Black Max
2000:
August
"I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness." -- George W. Bush in a CNN interview, August 2000
- August: Suspected al-Qaeda operatives wiretapped by Italian police make apparent references to plans for major attacks involving airports, airplanes and the United States. Italian authorities refuse to comment on the report. (From the Wilderness)
- August: A Southern California Edison employee warns FERC regulators than Enron and other energy companies are "gaming" the California energy markets by withholding energy and creating phony congestion. FERC, with two commissioners personally approved by Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, refuses to intervene, and Enron continues to make huge profits at the expense of California energy consumers. (Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose)
- August: Vice-presidential candidate Dick Cheney sells off $18.5 million of Halliburton stock, a sale he is not required to make until he is sworn in as vice-president in January 2001. In October 2000, Halliburton will announce that its engineering and construction companies will not meet published expectations, and that the company is under investigation for fraudulently overbilling the government. Cheney sold his stocks at the company's all-time high of $52 per share; by the end of the year, stock prices would fall to $35 and, by January 2002, to $10. No investigation of any possibility of illegal insider trading has ever been made. The Washington Post observes in July 2002, "The developments at Halliburton since Cheney's departure leave two possibilities. Either the vice president did not know of the magnitude of the problems at the oilfield services company he ran for five years, or he sold his shares in August 2000 knowing the company was heading for a fall." Authors Eric Alterman and Mark Green note, "Cheney acted either incompetently or unlawfully." In a related matter, Cheney received a $32 million retirement package from Halliburton when he stepped down from his position to run for vice-president, even though Cheney was too young to receive the package. Contrast this with the hundreds of Dresser Industry employees acquired by Halliburton after Halliburton acquired Dresser; though the employees did not lose their jobs, technically they resigned from Dresser and were rehired by Halliburton, losing collectively over $25 million in retirement benefits and pensions. (Eric Alterman and Mark Green)
- Early August: During the Republican convention, Ron Reagan Jr. causes some anger within the party by bluntly dismissing the Presidential nominee, George W. Bush, to a Washington Post reporter: "The big elephant sitting in the corner is that George W. Bush is simply unqualified for the job... What's his accomplishment? That he's no longer an obnoxious drunk?" (Salon)
- August - September: Predator drone planes are used to begin tracking bin Laden's movements. The Clinton administration wants to arm the drones with missiles to use in possible assassination attempts, but infighting between the Pentagon and the CIA over who would pay for the craft and who would be in charge of it precludes the missiles being installed. One source claims that by May 2001 the Predator was armed with Hellfire missiles; other sources claim that the drones remained unarmed until after 9/11. (CCR, AP/RedNova)
- August 1: In an article published by the Washington Post, conservative commentator Ann Coulter says, "The thing I like about Bush is I think he hates liberals." (Washington Monthly)
- August 2: Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey makes a lewd and objectionable anti-gay joke about fellow congressman Barney Frank, who is openly gay. Armey tells humor columnist Dave Barry, "Yes, I am Dick Armey. And if there is a dick army, Barney Frank would want to join up." In 1995 Armey referred to Frank as "Barney Fag" on a radio talk show, sparking outrage around the country and forcing Armey to make the excuse that the sobriquet was merely a slip of the tongue. Armey apologized to Frank, who tartly retorted that his mother had been a Mrs. Frank for over fifty years, and that no one had ever "stumbled" and addressed her as "Mrs. Fag." (Journalist Amy Goodman notes that Armey's 1995 slur occurred at a time when his home state of Texas was suffering a plague of unsolved murders of gay men, and Armey was leading Congressional opposition to stiffening penalties for hate crimes.) (Data Lounge, Amy Goodman and David Goodman)
- August 3: Candidate George W. Bush falsely states, "If called on by the commander in chief today, two entire divisions of the Army would have to report, 'Not ready for duty, sir,'" a serious accusation of military dereliction against the Clinton administration. Right-wing pundit Sean Hannity will echo Bush's charge on his radio and TV talk shows, and will write in his August 2002 book Let Freedom Ring, "Did Clinton gut the military because there was no evidence that countries like Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and an increasingly aggressive Communist China would represent serious future threats to America and our friends and allies? No. Rather, it was because he loathed the military." Days later, Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat, challenges Bush's statement, grilling Bush's foreign policy advisor, Richard Armitage, later Bush's deputy secretary of state. Levin asks Armitage, "Are those two divisions ready for duty, or aren't they?" Armitage replies, "I believe those two divisions, Senator, are ready for duty," to which Levin replies, "That's not what Governor Bush said the other night, and that's why I think an apology is necessary." No apology is forthcoming, and the media, busily crucifying Al Gore for his so-called "serial lying," ignores Bush's false accusation. Years later, after the Bush invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Council on Foreign Relations's Lawrence Korb, the former assistant secretary of defense under Reagan, will say, "The fact of the matter is that most of the credit for the successful military operation should go to the Clinton administration." (Al Franken)
- August 20: During a face-off between Gore advisor Bob Shrum and Bush advisor Karen Hughes on ABC's This Week, a short but illuminating exchange takes place. Shrum points out correctly that "Half of the benefits in Governor Bush's tax proposal go to people who make $250,000 a year or more." Hughes replies, "There you go again, class warfare." Hughes's reply is the Bush campaign's scripted response to any observances that Bush's tax proposals are skewed towards benefiting the rich; instead, according to Hughes, any attempt to discuss the fairness of Bush's tax proposals are out of bounds. The reply shifts the argument from whether Bush's tax plan is fair to a discussion of whether Shrum's observation is fair. The bogus accusation of "class warfare" illustrates journalist Paul Waldman's observation that "nothing terrifies Republicans more than the idea of people voting according to their class. It's all well and good for the rich to do so, but if everyone of modest means took a clear-eyed look at the two parties and voted according to who was on their side, Republicans would be routed. Preventing this from happening requires not only devising what Lee Atwater called 'wedge issues' that define Democrats as alien from the values of ordinary people, but arguing that any discussion of class -- especially how Republican policies benefit the rich -- is off limits" -- class warfare, if you will. (ABC/Paul Waldman)
