No one should have been surprised by President Bush's Veterans Day speech in Pennsylvania.
As JABBS wrote yesterday, new questions are being raised about whether Bush, Vice President Cheney and others in the White House inner circle made pre-war claims based on information provided by regarding Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a captured Al Qaeda commander — information that the CIA and DIA said lacked credibility. This latest revelation backs up earlier news articles that suggest Bush, Cheney and others had made pre-war claims not supported by the National Intelligence Estimate.
It was clear that the White House would "hit back," as anonymous White House aides told CNN on Tuesday. Bush's speech, and the conservative noise machine that followed on various cable "news" channels, served that purpose.
But, in responding to the recent news, the president offered spin and straw men.
Bush, in his speech in Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania., first indicated that he supported free speech:
BUSH: One of the hallmarks of a free society and what makes our country strong is that our political leaders can discuss their differences openly, even in times of war.
But then he qualified that:
BUSH: While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began. Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war.
And then he provided the straw man:
BUSH: As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them to war continue to stand behind them. Our troops deserve to know that this support will remain firm when the going gets tough. And our troops deserve to know that whatever our differences in Washington, our will is strong, our nation is united, and we will settle for nothing less than victory.
It's a crafty piece of speechwriting. The information revealed over the past few days says that the White House inner circle had information in 2002 that was ignored or misrepresented in making the case for war to Congress and the American people. While it supports information revealed nearly two years ago, the newest information, regarding claims made by al-Libi, was only recently made available to the press and the American people in the last few days. But in spite of this, Bush makes the false charge that Democrats are trying to "rewrite" history.
Article comments
1 - Dave Nalle
David, it wasn't a campaign speech and it wasn't televised except in clips. There's no obligation to carry a rebuttal.
Dave
2 - david r. mark
You didn't watch Fox News, which ran a clip of at least 10 minutes.
In the process of covering the event as "news," it would have made sense to offer context for the story. Otherwise, the cable channels are nothing more than propaganda efforts.
It sort of goes against the spin of "liberal media bias" when all three cable networks broadcast Bush's speech with no context or rebuttal.
3 - Dave Nalle
Gah, I don't have to start watching Fox News now, do I?
Now who takes liberal media bias seriously? That's almost as silly as running a website devoted to highlighting every misrepresentation and bit of spin that comes out of the administration.
The media is biased towards profit. The news editors are biased towards having something to put on the air that will keep people watching. Oddly enough, on Veterans Day a lot of them thought the obvious thing was to broadcast some of the president's Veterans day speech. That's not a conspiracy, it's a painfully obvious editorial decision.
Plus, who on the left that anyone would want to put on the air would want to try to rebut a patriotic speech on Veterans Day. Talk about political suicide.
Dave
4 - kittygogo
George Bernard Shaw:
“When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.”
5 - David
Here are three interesting articles relating to David Mark’s comments. The first directly rebuts certain points Bush made. Bush is, if nothing, consistent in spinning and lying to maintain the fraud upon the American people and world, as is clear in many parts of his Veterans Day speech.
David Corn: Bush Rewrites History To Criticize His Anti-war Critics
Prof Juan Cole: Bush Administration Lie about Iraq
The New Republic: The Worst Speech of Bush's Presidency
6 - Nancy
That anyone questioning the source of information leading to the Iraq war would "demoralize the troops" is a non-sequitur as well as irrelevant; besides, they certainly have a lot more to be demoralized about being over in Iraq (thanks to Fearless Leader) than people asking what Bush knew & when he knew it. And then trying to impugn the patriotism of those asking ... yes, indeed, Joseph McCarthy would be proud.
7 - Dave Nalle
David, do you read anything except for extreme left partisan propaganda? I mean come on, Corn, Cole and Kusnet? Why not Marx, Lenin and Stalin?
Dave
8 - gonzo marx
ok Mr Nalle... how about this one...
i realize it is WaPo...and it will upset Shrub Apologists to have the actual circumstance and history of the time in Question baldly written out for them...
but it does show how the Administration pressured and timed everything to get their way
nuff said?
Excelsior!
Mr Marx: I think you know how to make a link clickable? It has the side benefit that the long continuous url doesn't throw out the pae layout! Thanks, Comments Editor.
9 - David
Dave Nalle: "David, do you read anything except for extreme left partisan propaganda? I mean come on, Corn, Cole and Kusnet? Why not Marx, Lenin and Stalin?"
Up to your old tricks, Dave?
I'll have to repeat what I told you before: I guess it's too much to ask for a productive and compelling argument from you based on facts and sound reasoning. It's the same story, isn't it? If you can't answer on the arguments and if you can't answer the facts, you had better denounce something I do. You know that you can't defend your position, so you don't deal with the issues and facts. Either you try to ignore it, or if you simply cannot ignore it, then try to shut it up by flinging slime. So you denounce my comments as "extreme left partisan propaganda", "propaganda from lunatics" or "quotes directly from extremist international socialist groups" or "do you just parrot things you read on socialist front-group websites". Is this the best you have, Dave? Is that what you learned from www.seixon.com or massgraves.info?
10 - Anthony Grande
I like the part when he exposed the Democrats when he pointed out how several Democrats with the same Intelligience supported and voted to go to Iraq.
And don't say it all spin: http://www.rnc.org/
11 - Dave Nalle
Give it a rest, David. You link to three articles which are pushing the 'big lie' fanatically. Why do I have to go on debunking the same bogus arguments over and over again. The left isn't coming up with new arguments or new evidence, they just spew out the same lies and do it louder and think people will believe them because of sheer volume. I'm going to start calling you Commondreamsman.
Why don't you write an article, post some of the ridiculous arguments Corn and Cole make about Bush's speech as if they're your own, and I'll gladly go through them point by point and disprove them. Then you'll ignore what I say, deny the truth and repeat their lies several times to make sure no one misses them. It's tedious.
And btw, David. If you'd even bothered to go to massgraves.info you'd have seen that there's no content there but photographs. All you learn there is that Saddam killed a hell of a lot of people. There's no political agenda, no argument being made. It's nice to go to a site where there's no one spinning anything.
Dave
12 - RogerMDillon
why does this comment keeping changing its placement under "Fresh Comments"? It keeps appearing when other comments have been placed after it in the queue.
[I don't quite understand what you mean Roger, but if you notice anything specific, please let us know. Thanks. Comments Editor]
13 - David
More information on what's stressing out the pro-war, pro-Bush spinners, as their big lie is unraveling: David Corn: Were We Misled Before the War?
"The White House seems to be losing its lid over the fact that public opinion has turned against Bush on the war and on his credibility... This has sent the White House into frenzied campaign mode - with oppo researchers churning out talking points that are zapped around to political and ideological colleagues and even posted on the White House website... In striking back, the White House first posted a memo titled "Setting the Record Straight: The Washington Post on Pre-War Intelligence," which was aimed at a Post piece that analyzed - and found holes in - Bush's Veterans Day speech, in which Bush accused critics of rewriting the history on the prewar intelligence. (See my take on this speech below.) This memo repeated several of Bush's false arguments. Here's one example: The Post noted that no official body has examined whether Bush officials "mischaracterized (the prewar) intelligence by omitting caveats and dissenting opinions..."
14 - Anthony Grande
Hey David, look who the spinners are:
http://www.rnc.org/
And please, do not label anyone "pro-war", we are not FOR war. We want war as the last and final possible resort. War is a terrible thing and should be avoided when possible.