[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 28, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H4684]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              WAG THE DOG

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, this administration is angry that the 
media leaked the story about its snooping into the bank records of 
millions of Americans. Its supporters in Congress want to formally 
condemn the New York Times. What a bunch of baloney.
  It is about time the media did its job of protecting the public 
interest. If the media and this Congress had shown some independence 
from the party line of this administration, the claims of WMDs would 
have been dismissed, and the fact there was no connection between Iraq 
and 9/11 would have been well-established, and we would not have gone 
to war against Iraq.
  A few years ago, a movie, ``Wag the Dog,'' told of how a fictional 
U.S. administration misused its communications power to create phony 
stories to put this Nation into an international conflict. This 
administration has not only wagged the dog in Iraq, but with the help 
of its fabricators at the Rendon and Lincoln groups, it has wagged a 
whole kennel.
  In a free society, the media cannot be a lap dog of any 
administration. The first amendment says, Congress shall make no law 
abridging freedom of the press, except of course under this 
administration.

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