Thursday, December 6, 2007

George W. Bush, congenital liar

I've thought for a long time, since 2002 actually, that George W. Bush and his administration will say anything to achieve their desired political goals. In the summer of 2002 Andrew Card famously said they wouldn't be pushing for a war with Iraq until the Fall, because Summer is a bad time for product rollouts. That telegraphing of the forthcoming marketing campaign for a war that turned out to be the most foolish in the world for 2,000 years should have tipped off the press and Democrats that the Prez doesn't tell the truth.

Unfortunately the traditional corporate press continued to report on the what the President said as some kind of gospel truth, in most cases not even attempting to assess the veracity of his statements. Flash forward to today, when it has been revealed that the President knew at least for months that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program back in 2003 - four years ago - yet has been beating the drums for war, even invoking the specter of World War III brought on by a nuclear-armed Iran. Lying is so easy for the President that he'll do it even if it makes him look like a moron, as demonstrated when he said with a straight face after the NIE was released that he had only just then learned of its conclusions.

Here's a plea to traditional reporters: From now on when the President says something - anything - please either preface or conclude the report with the known fact that George W. Bush is a shameless liar, and there is almost always some kind of subterfuge going on, and that readers/viewers should consider that the truth is probably the exact opposite of what he says.

UPDATE: Bob Cesca at HuffPo had the same thought: "President Bush Was Lying, Is Lying, And Will Lie About Iranian Nukes."

No comments: