Time & Perspective Quote by Jim Garrison

Garrison’s sentence is a bureaucrat’s way of picking a fight while pretending he’s above it. “It has been my policy” frames the refusal as principled governance, not tactical silence. He’s not ducking; he’s stewarding time, upholding a code. That’s the first move: recast criticism as noise beneath the dignity of public work.

Then comes the loaded word: “canards.” Not “claims” or “questions” but falsehoods with a whiff of malice and coordination. By naming his critics’ attacks as canards, Garrison collapses a messy public argument into a single category: propaganda. The phrase “campaign to discredit my investigation” goes further, implying an organized effort with political intent, not organic skepticism. He’s asking the audience to choose between two realities: either his probe is legitimate and therefore under siege, or it’s suspect and therefore defensive.

The real rhetorical clincher is “prove negatives.” In law and politics, that’s a magic phrase: it signals sophistication and creates an asymmetry. Accusers get to lob insinuations cheaply; the investigator is supposedly trapped in an endless, impossible rebuttal. Garrison uses that logic to justify selective engagement and to shift the burden of proof back onto his opponents.

Context matters: as the New Orleans DA who challenged the official story of JFK’s assassination, Garrison was perpetually accused of grandstanding, overreach, and conspiracism. This line is less a retreat than a bid for authority: if you doubt him, you’re not a skeptic; you’re part of the “campaign.”