Wednesday, August 23, 2006

The Waning Days of the Republic? -3

From Bill on dailykos.com, excerpts:-

October 28-November 10, 2002:

Bush's comments about Saddam Hussein, each from a different speech:

"This is a person who has had contacts with al Qaeda."
"He's got connections with al Qaeda."
"This is a guy who has had connections with these shadowy terrorist networks."
"We know he's got ties with al Qaeda."
"We know that he's had connections with al Qaeda."
"He's had connections with shadowy terrorist networks like al Qaeda."
"We know that he has had contacts with terrorist networks like al Qaeda."
"This is a man who has had contacts with al Qaeda."
"This is a man who has had al Qaeda connections."
"He's had contacts with al Qaeda."
"This is a man who has got connections with al Qaeda."

March 19, 2003:

U.S. President George W. Bush sent Congress a formal justification for invading Iraq Wednesday, citing the attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001.

August 21, 2006:

Q What did Iraq have to do with that?

THE PRESIDENT: What did Iraq have to do with what?

Q The attack on the World Trade Center?

THE PRESIDENT: Nothing!!  [...]  Nobody has ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq.

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I think Bill Clinton, with his parsing of the mean of "is", was less demeaning to the Presidency and to the country.

1 comment:

CapitalistImperialistPig said...

Well nobody can accuse W of "a foolish consistency."

Oh wait, that's sort of his trademark, right - foolish consistency and consistent foolishness.

Maybe he's just not excessively honest.