Americans are not stupid, they are naive. How many times have you heard people who should know better - Senators, reporters, etc. - say that they supported the war because they trusted the President. This is not criticism of the President, rather those who should have known better but decided that the fallacy of relying on authority did not apply in the tweny-first century.
I am too young to remember the Watergate incident. But none of these people are.
There were some subtleties, but in general, there was plenty of room for doubt. I know because the only time I wavered (or anyway as I recall 18 months later) was after Colin Powell's speech to the UN. And even that was a mistake on my part. Perhaps, as part of the new, young, cynical generation I am programmed to doubt. But again, I point out I missed the Watergate incident. (I do remember some well-known shenanigans involving the truth from the last President though... surely the media should remember that as well.) We need to rethink the idea that just because it came from someone important, it is true.
And by the way, I have an even greater fear that Americans, bitten too many times, may become bitter and disillusioned and hence reactionary, and swing back the other way. Disillusionment has a way of leading to a sort of nihilism, which can be very dangerous. But, in this case, there is no reason for there to be any more disillusionment, if we are just willing to apply some reasonable skepticism.
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