Michael Reynolds Calls Bush A Liar
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Quotes, The War On Terrorism, WarFrankly, I don’t like the “L” word. It’s been misused so many times in the collective political conversations the past decade, it has started to lose meaning. But, as Michael Reynolds points out over at The Mighty Middle, I don’t know if Bush can talk his way out of this one.
“I didn’t want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong … with all due respect.”
Of course, I don’t think that Bush came anywhere close to exhausting all options before going into Iraq, so that’s going to influence whether you think that quote is proof of a lie. But I guess the question remains, is it a lie? And if not, what the hell is it?
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March 21st, 2006 at 7:29 pm
I would just add that people who know my writing know I’ve been railing against the “he lied” attack line. I’ve always advocated the “he’s incompetent” attack. For the excellent reason that Mr. Bush’s “lies” are debatable, but his incompetence is incontravertible.
But this is a flat out lie. Of course he wanted a war. He wanted to take down Saddam before he was ever sworn in as president. He wanted this war, pushed for this war, fired anyone who got in the way of this war and rewarded everyone who sustained the cause of war. You can argue whether he lied on all sorts of issues, but this? This is a lie.
March 21st, 2006 at 7:56 pm
Definitely. Hope you didn’t think I suggested you threw it around “liberally.”
March 22nd, 2006 at 11:58 am
I guess I hadn’t thought much about the statement. I was too busy laughing about the way he said it to Helen Thomas. The “with due respect” part was definitely a lie. There’s no respect between those two. Wasn’t she the first one to question Lincoln on his appointment
of Grant as the commander of all US armies?
March 22nd, 2006 at 3:31 pm
Also, Bush has bat wings and incediary breath, because clearly he is evil incarnate and wants war and kills puppies!
Please, can’t the “Bush lied” movement die already? Anybody who has studied the issue and actually remembers back to the Clinton Era(instead of bypassing everything historically from 1974 to 2000) will remember that various DEMOCRATS made statements that Saddam was harboring WMD.
But who needs historical knowledge when chanting “Bush lied, People died” is so much easier on the brain.
March 22nd, 2006 at 3:55 pm
Calling Bush a liar or incompetent generally just tends to prove one is either a liar oneself or incompetent oneself, or, in most cases, both.
These accusations are always based on the most tendentious of evidence, like the claim Shinseki was “fired” or that FEMA is responsible for failures by first responders and state officials.
He wanted to take down Saddam before he was ever sworn in as president.
So did Clinton. So did the entire U.S. gov’t; regime change was official policy before he took office. So either that statement is applicable to everyone, in which case its meaningless, or you’re lying, and either way the charges are rather incompetently levelled.