Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Happy birthday Janet!
This is Janet Reno's 72nd birthday, and she deserves a bit of belated recognition. She didn't want to be AG in the first place; she was just a typical publicity-seeking local prosecutor without higher ambition. Bill & Hill picked her after their first two choices failed vetting, undoubtedly assuming she'd roll over easily. And B&H definitely needed a loyal AG who would participate in covering up a multitude of past and present sins.
Reno's tenure began with the vicious Waco mess, which was a project started by Comrade Bush The Father, and already close to its planned holocaustic conclusion by the time she picked up the reins. She ended up carrying much of the blame, which undoubtedly pleased Comrade Bush The Father almost as much as seeing all those Crispy Christians.
Later she served Bill & Hill reasonably well by all accounts. Scandals disappeared from the headlines, which is the primary job of an AG.
But near the end of her time, something happened that exceeded her capacity for tolerance. The Wen Ho Lee spy case disappeared from the headlines. Lee was more or less vindicated and returned home, and Reno didn't like it. She held a news conference in which she made it clear, by implication and by obvious anguish, that Lee was a serious spy who should have been prosecuted.
After that cri de coeur I couldn't harbor any hard feelings toward Reno. She was too loyal [or too blackmailed] to lash out in an explicit way, but her basic patriotism, her essential understanding of right and wrong, couldn't be entirely suppressed even by expert suppressors like B&H. ¶ 7:59 AM
Reno's tenure began with the vicious Waco mess, which was a project started by Comrade Bush The Father, and already close to its planned holocaustic conclusion by the time she picked up the reins. She ended up carrying much of the blame, which undoubtedly pleased Comrade Bush The Father almost as much as seeing all those Crispy Christians.
Later she served Bill & Hill reasonably well by all accounts. Scandals disappeared from the headlines, which is the primary job of an AG.
But near the end of her time, something happened that exceeded her capacity for tolerance. The Wen Ho Lee spy case disappeared from the headlines. Lee was more or less vindicated and returned home, and Reno didn't like it. She held a news conference in which she made it clear, by implication and by obvious anguish, that Lee was a serious spy who should have been prosecuted.
After that cri de coeur I couldn't harbor any hard feelings toward Reno. She was too loyal [or too blackmailed] to lash out in an explicit way, but her basic patriotism, her essential understanding of right and wrong, couldn't be entirely suppressed even by expert suppressors like B&H. ¶ 7:59 AM
