Of Bush and Filters

Is George Bush a liar? Although this is not my primary complaint about his administration, yeah, I think he probably is. I am under the impression that his administration lies mostly after the fact, by reframing issues and pretending they haven’t said things that they previously said in order to make their really upsetting actions seem a little less upsetting. A lot of times they let their press secretaries do it for them, like when they let Scott McClellan repeatedly insist that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby weren’t involved in the Valerie Plame leak.

Then there are the lies that are designed to create a favorable political environment in which they can achieve their strategic objectives. A study by two nonprofit journalism groups determined that seven top officials including Bush, Cheney, and Rice made 935 false statements about the security risk posed by Iraq in the 2 years after 9/11. Now, I haven’t investigated this for myself, and it’s possible that was politically motivated. So let’s just give them half, for argument’s sake. That’s still a lot. For example: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction," Cheney said. "There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us."

Now, I know that some Fox folk believe that he really did have them and they were somehow hidden or removed, and others like to mention that people from other countries thought Iraq had WMD too, but this brings us back to a really important issue raised by Jim Beam: the filter.I would like to say a lot more about the filter,and I will, but maybe not here. Normally I get paid to write this much.

Finally, about the lying: there are a lot more examples similar to this, especially via the press secretaries. Here are a few more that you can check out and see if you think they are valid. It is my impression that he has changed his tune repeatedly about what our objectives in Iraq were supposed to have been, after the WMD thing fell through. But that may just be my filter. I will readily admit that have one too, especially in recent years. My filter was not allowed to function properly during my long years in the PCA, as I was consistently reminded of how my brethren in the church viewed people who hold my political opinions. There were other democrats among us, including at least one in church leadership, but we were so rare as to be notable. Now that I am an Episcopalian there is a lot more cultural, social and political diversity. Which is such a relief.

I have to help take the Pre K class to a stage presentation of GO DOG GO, one of my favorite children's books ever, so I have to go dog go myself now. Bye.