Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: January 11, 2004 – January 17, 2004 Archives
Let me add my voice to those criticizing the ABC News story on Dean and the state trooper on his security detail who apparently was guilty of spousal abuse. As nearly as I can tell, this person who worked on his security detail beat his wife. But there’s no evidence in the piece that Dean knew it. Then, while this guy was beating his wife or after it had occurred, Dean filed a three page affidavit for use in a custody hearing attesting that the trooper, Dennis Madore, was a good father.
But, again, there’s no evidence that Dean knew anything about the abuse! [my emphasis] Or really, any evidence that he should have known. Without going into all the ins and outs of the story, Dean seems to have played it by the book at every point.
World O’Crap noted this from Jonah Goldberg:
For Bush to have lied, he had to have known that there were no WMDs, right? It’s not a lie unless you know the truth. If you say something you think is true that later turns out to be false, we don’t call that a “lie,” we call that a “mistake.”
So Governor Dean, with no knowledge to the contrary, continues to employ and testifies on behalf of a state trooper based on his service and that makes him guilty by proxy . . . of what, I’m not sure. At the same time, the President can declare war on Iraq, killing hundreds of US military servicepeople, thousands of civilians, at a huge cost, based on the still-unproven “certainty” of weapons of mass destruction.
What’s the difference?
With a mistake, an apology and an offer to clean up the mess usually covers it. I’m not sure that’s going to be sufficient here.
[Posted with ecto]