One of these days, the media is going to start calling a spade a spade and we'll see headlines that say "PRESIDENT LIES HIS FRICKIN' ASS OFF AND WE HAVE PROOF" instead of things like "reports indicate president's statements possibly not entirely accurate."
Today's crop of lies:
In his White House Briefing today, Dan Froomkin points a couple of whoppers. First, he quotes himself from a March 22 column, referencing a piece in the Wall Street Journal by Scott Paltrow.
White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr., who famously whispered in the president's ear, "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack," has previously said that Bush left the Florida classroom he was sitting in within seconds.
But Paltrow wrote that "uncut videotape of the classroom visit obtained from the local cable-TV station director who shot it, and interviews with the teacher and principal, show that Mr. Bush remained in the classroom not for mere seconds, but for at least seven additional minutes. He followed along for five minutes as children read aloud a story about a pet goat. Then he stayed for at least another two minutes, asking the children questions and explaining to Ms. Rigell that he would have to leave more quickly than planned."
Paltrow wrote: "Both Republican and Democratic commissioners have said they are focusing closely on what happened next -- and whether mere minutes could have affected the outcome on Sept. 11. The panel's investigators are looking at questions such as the timeliness of presidential orders about intercepting the jet that at 9:37 a.m. plowed into the Pentagon."
Paltrow also wrote that Bush could not have been telling the truth when he told a town-hall meeting in December, 2001: "I was sitting outside the classroom, waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly myself, and I said, 'Well, there's one terrible pilot.' "
There was no such video until late that night, and the TV wasn't even plugged in, Paltrow wrote.
Giant lie, right out of the president's mouth, on the record. Total bullshit -- he just made it up. Meanwhile, John Kerry is being called a liar for referring to medals as ribbons.
We might be able to clear these issues up through the 9/11 Commission, but it seems that not only are the president and vice-president appearing together, defying all reason and sense when it comes to gathering testimony, but there will be no recording made of their testimony, no transcript, only hand-written notes.
Bush and his spokespeople continue to provide non sequiturs when asked why his is appearing jointly with Cheney.
From Bush's photo-op with the Swedish P.M. yesterday:
PRESIDENT BUSH: What he's asking about is a meeting I'm going to have tomorrow morning, talking with this 9/11 Commission about -- my attitude and the attitude of the Vice President about our country, our security, what happened on that particular date, what happened leading up to that. And I look forward to the discussion. I look forward to giving the commissioners a chance to question both of us. And it's a -- it will be an ample -- it will be a good opportunity for people to help write a report that hopefully will help future Presidents deal with terrorist threats to the country."
That certainly clears up that question. Or, maybe not. Let's try again, through Scott McClellan's press briefing yesterday:
MR. McCLELLAN: The President is focused on helping the commission complete its important work. That's where the President's focus is. And I think I've been through --
QUESTION: I didn't ask where his focus was. I mean, that's fine, wherever his focus is. I'm asking a specific question. I'm just wondering why nobody will answer it. I mean, we may just want to understand the thinking here --
MR. McCLELLAN: Actually, I think I have addressed it. I addressed it yesterday, David, when the question came up, and I addressed it a few weeks ago when it came up in the briefing room, as well, and I talked about that very issue. This is a good opportunity for the President and Vice President to sit down together with the commission and help them piece together all the information that they have been provided. This is not an adversarial process. We're all working together to learn the lessons of September 11th and look at what else we might do, in addition to the steps we've already taken, to win the war on terrorism. That's where our focus is.
Ahh.. Okay. Gotcha. So, they're appearing together because they're focused on helping the commission do it's work and because it's a good opportunity for them to be questioned. You know, the questioning -- it's a good opportunity for the questioning to take place, at the questioning. I don't know how I missed that.
As a final insult, when asked if the president had put a time limit on the questioning, McClellan responded: "We're talking about a sitting president of the United States, and I expect the commission's going to be fully respectful of that."
Yeah, he's a busy man you know. That brush at the ranch isn't going to clear itself.
