Off with Their Heads: Traitors, Crooks, and Obstructionists in American Politics, Media, and Business

367 Pages·2004·1.37 MB·English

by  Dick Morris

O F F

W I T H

T H E I R

H E A D S

TRAITORS, CROOKS & OBSTRUCTIONISTS
IN AMERICAN POLITICS, MEDIA & BUSINESS
D I C K M O R R I S

To the brave men and women who have fallen, and will fall,
in defending our nation against terrorism

CONTENTS
Introduction ix
PART I THE OBSTRUCTIONISTS 1
1 The New New York Times:All the News That Fits, They Print 3
2 After Iraq: The Media Credibility Gap 52
3 Après Moi, Le Deluge:How Clinton Left Ticking Terror
Time Bombs for Bush to Discover 67
4 The Hollywood Apologists 128
5 France: From Great to Ingrate 170
PART II OUR OTHER ASSAILANTS 193
6 The Attack on Our Economy: How Two Senators—Christopher Dodd
and Phil Gramm—Passed Laws That Helped Enron Defraud Its
Investors with Impunity 195
7 The Attack on Our Democracy: How Incumbent Congressmen
and Their Political Bosses Took Away Our Power to Choose
Our House of Representatives 215
8 The Attack on Our Kids: How the Governors Swiped the
Antitobacco Money and Endangered Our Health 236
9 The Attack on the Elderly: Nursing Home Nazis 259
Epilogue 283
Acknowledgments 287
Notes 289
About the Author
Also by Dick Morris
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher

INTRODUCTION
9/11 should have changed everything.
On 9/12, all—or almost all—Americans joined to fight terror and
ban this appalling species of warfare from our planet. But as the Bush
administration proceeded to act on this mandate, more and more peo-
ple dragged their feet, attempting to slow the process down or hinder it
from achieving its vital goals.
What happened to the unity that so blessed America after 9/11?
Where did our sense of determination go? When did our focus on bat-
tling terrorism become blurred?
In the days and weeks immediately after 9/11, there was notably lit-
tle dissent. As we invaded Afghanistan to take down the evil Taliban
regime, virtually the entire nation supported our troops and hailed their
every difficult, treacherous step through the mountains in search of
those who had scarred our souls.
But then, it seemed, some of us began to lose our way. They became
convinced that President Bush had “hijacked our grief,” that he had
“manipulated” us for his own political ends. Some began to feel that
the weekly vicissitudes of the economy, and the scandals that gripped
Wall Street, should be treated more urgently than stopping future acts
of terror. Many demanded a miraculous settlement of the intractable
Arab-Israeli conflict, even when becoming mired in yet another round
of shuttle diplomacy was likely to erode the impetus for fighting the war
on terror. When a settlement of the West Bank dispute proved elusive,
tens of millions of Americans dissented from President Bush’s decision
to disarm and remove Iraq’s dictator from power.
Peace marches started, as if our current troubles were somehow
comparable to Vietnam. In some quarters, George W. Bush was more
reviled than Saddam Hussein. We became a nation divided.
Demonstrators, who might have better spent their time outside the