Some Things Just Don't Change.
Ok.
I am even getting tired of myself being hostile to the death mongers. And there was this little speech from the Plastic Turkey Man last night all about how . . . . Um. Ya. I am not even going to get into the details.
However I am going to jack some of a Washington Post article about Plastic Turkey Man from not only BEFORE the infamous serving of a plastic turkey to hungry troops incident, but from before the actual start of the damn war:
For Bush, Facts Are Malleable
Presidential Tradition Of Embroidering Key Assertions Continues
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 22, 2002; Page A01
President Bush, speaking to the nation this month about the need to challenge Saddam Hussein, warned that Iraq has a growing fleet of unmanned aircraft that could be used "for missions targeting the United States."
Last month, asked if there were new and conclusive evidence of Hussein's nuclear weapons capabilities, Bush cited a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency saying the Iraqis were "six months away from developing a weapon." And last week, the president said objections by a labor union to having customs officials wear radiation detectors has the potential to delay the policy "for a long period of time."
All three assertions were powerful arguments for the actions Bush sought. And all three statements were dubious, if not wrong. Further information revealed that the aircraft lack the range to reach the United States; there was no such report by the IAEA; and the customs dispute over the detectors was resolved long ago.
As Bush leads the nation toward a confrontation with Iraq and his party into battle in midterm elections, his rhetoric has taken some flights of fancy in recent weeks. Statements on subjects ranging from the economy to Iraq suggest that a president who won election underscoring Al Gore's knack for distortions and exaggerations has been guilty of a few himself.
Presidential embroidery is, of course, a hoary tradition. Ronald Reagan was known for his apocryphal story about liberating a concentration camp. Bill Clinton fibbed famously and under oath about his personal indiscretions to keep a step ahead of Whitewater prosecutors. Richard M. Nixon had his Watergate denials, and Lyndon B. Johnson was often accused of stretching the truth to put the best face on the Vietnam War. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, too, played with the truth during the Gary Powers and Bay of Pigs episodes.
"Everybody makes mistakes when they open their mouths and we forgive them," Brookings Institution scholar Stephen Hess said. Some of Bush's overstatements appear to be off-the-cuff mistakes. But, Hess said, "what worries me about some of these is they appear to be with foresight. This is about public policy in its grandest sense, about potential wars and who is our enemy, and a president has a special obligation to getting it right."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A61903-2002Oct21?language=printer
Oh, I must mention the latest stinky cow-chip from the White House Bullshit Factory: "Return on success?”
I have read other's reactions. When I read that nugget, my thought was, this is what we get when we have a mediocre MBA grad, and failed businessman as POTUS. And now that I think about it, the guys who run this website should add that phrase to the slide show:
http://members.aol.com/matt999h/bullshit.htm
But I am not going to belabor the point or the topic, for that matter.
Ok. So now what should be my end comment?
Should I just say something crass but seemingly accurate like . . . "Well Plastic Turkey Man might not be spouting nothing but bullshit all the time, but he is historically full of shit, " or should I just repeat that quote about how for anyone else that would be a new low but for him it is just a new medium?
I will let both stand. I can not choose.
I am even getting tired of myself being hostile to the death mongers. And there was this little speech from the Plastic Turkey Man last night all about how . . . . Um. Ya. I am not even going to get into the details.
However I am going to jack some of a Washington Post article about Plastic Turkey Man from not only BEFORE the infamous serving of a plastic turkey to hungry troops incident, but from before the actual start of the damn war:
For Bush, Facts Are Malleable
Presidential Tradition Of Embroidering Key Assertions Continues
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 22, 2002; Page A01
President Bush, speaking to the nation this month about the need to challenge Saddam Hussein, warned that Iraq has a growing fleet of unmanned aircraft that could be used "for missions targeting the United States."
Last month, asked if there were new and conclusive evidence of Hussein's nuclear weapons capabilities, Bush cited a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency saying the Iraqis were "six months away from developing a weapon." And last week, the president said objections by a labor union to having customs officials wear radiation detectors has the potential to delay the policy "for a long period of time."
All three assertions were powerful arguments for the actions Bush sought. And all three statements were dubious, if not wrong. Further information revealed that the aircraft lack the range to reach the United States; there was no such report by the IAEA; and the customs dispute over the detectors was resolved long ago.
As Bush leads the nation toward a confrontation with Iraq and his party into battle in midterm elections, his rhetoric has taken some flights of fancy in recent weeks. Statements on subjects ranging from the economy to Iraq suggest that a president who won election underscoring Al Gore's knack for distortions and exaggerations has been guilty of a few himself.
Presidential embroidery is, of course, a hoary tradition. Ronald Reagan was known for his apocryphal story about liberating a concentration camp. Bill Clinton fibbed famously and under oath about his personal indiscretions to keep a step ahead of Whitewater prosecutors. Richard M. Nixon had his Watergate denials, and Lyndon B. Johnson was often accused of stretching the truth to put the best face on the Vietnam War. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, too, played with the truth during the Gary Powers and Bay of Pigs episodes.
"Everybody makes mistakes when they open their mouths and we forgive them," Brookings Institution scholar Stephen Hess said. Some of Bush's overstatements appear to be off-the-cuff mistakes. But, Hess said, "what worries me about some of these is they appear to be with foresight. This is about public policy in its grandest sense, about potential wars and who is our enemy, and a president has a special obligation to getting it right."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A61903-2002Oct21?language=printer
Oh, I must mention the latest stinky cow-chip from the White House Bullshit Factory: "Return on success?”
I have read other's reactions. When I read that nugget, my thought was, this is what we get when we have a mediocre MBA grad, and failed businessman as POTUS. And now that I think about it, the guys who run this website should add that phrase to the slide show:
http://members.aol.com/matt999h/bullshit.htm
But I am not going to belabor the point or the topic, for that matter.
Ok. So now what should be my end comment?
Should I just say something crass but seemingly accurate like . . . "Well Plastic Turkey Man might not be spouting nothing but bullshit all the time, but he is historically full of shit, " or should I just repeat that quote about how for anyone else that would be a new low but for him it is just a new medium?
I will let both stand. I can not choose.
posted by Abstentus at 1:28 PM
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