Not-so-Happy Hour

I was accused of being behind the times and less than bright for posting the link on Bush possibly drinking. Apparently that’s “a year old” and so on.

Apparently I’m “smarter than that” and “should prove it.” Thanks, Anonymous.

I just don’t have much to say. I’ve always assumed he’d buckle and drink again. I’m not surprised. I’m just sick and tired of the mainstream media not addressing it. It’s the elephant under the carpet, and no one’s making an issue of it. No one mainstream, that is.

That said, alcoholism is a horrible disease. It’s not worth chuckling about. I don’t want to crack funnies. It affects far too many lives in far too many ways for that kind of base commentary. Alcoholism’s a disease that impedes judgment and ability to function, this much is public knowledge.

How is it more important that Clinton gets a blowjob in the Oval Office, but a leader scarfing down beer and shooters at the ranch on any one of his 319 vacation days over the course of less than five years in office any less of a national crisis? I’d say more of a crisis.

I’d say that the number of dead in Iraq, the poor response in New Orleans, and the lack of accountability at the top makes this issue one that REALLY needs to be discussed. But where’s the fucking media?

I’ll tell you where. They’re hiding behind The Code. The media’s famous for its love of alcohol and indulging in vices. Whatever gets you through the night, baby, right? It’s a hard life, being the windsock of world events, reporting on the bad and the ugly, and sometimes hiding behind a bottle makes it all blur and become a little less bad.

It’s an unspoken rule. Well, actually, it was spoken of back when I did my journalism degree: There are things we don’t report. “We cut slack.”

If it’s a cocaine habit, it’s kept quiet for a while, but if it’s not addressed, then it gets mentioned. On page eight. A little booze, though, is all right. “Everybody’s doing it.”

It’s duplicitious. Maybe the alcohol’s not the reason why the USA’s going to hell in a handcart with this war and the poor disaster response. Maybe that’s just bad politics. But as far as I can see, America is a country in crisis, and now, more than ever, a leader is needed who is on the job 24/7.

Not one whose self-esteem is tanked as he is, in a vat of Jim Beam.

The people deserve to know. It’s a pity about The Code.