Why does America let the liars win?

Yesterday Dennis Kucinich stood on the House floor and called the Bush administration what it is, basing his charge on this report by the Center for Public Integrity:

False Pretenses
Following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
(read report)

Others objected to his wording and Kucinich retracted his “offending” speech, since that’s just not done in Congress, calling a liar a liar.

And now — Dennis Kucinich is dropping out of the presidential race?

Kucinich abandons White House bid

I know he wanted to focus more on retaining his House seat for his district in Cleveland, Ohio, which is not as much of a shoe-in as it should be. I’m convinced those folks don’t know how lucky they are to have a Congressman with such integrity, to have the one truly progressive voice in Congress.

If that news upsets you as much as it did me, perhaps the following will help: Viggo Mortensen’s rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” (YouTube video), which he performed for the adaptation of Howard Zinn’s work, in The People Speak. Other performances from that production, by John Legend, Marisa Tomei, and Danny Glover can be found here. The minute-long monologue by Danny Glover is worth repeating over and over, and you shouldn’t miss this heart wrenching performance: Marisa Tomei, The People Speak, “Cindy Sheehan”.