July 10, 2003
What We Know, What Bush Knew, and What Dems Should Keep In Mind
Professor Andrew Busch of the conservative Ashbrook Center has an informative editorial outlining what we know so far about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. He also has an observation about what we don’t know, and what that could mean to Democrats who are currently foaming at the mouth:
It is impossible to say what discoveries the future will bring (a fact which, incidentally, makes the Democratic strategy quite risky) but it is useful to refocus attention on what we know—not what we thought we knew, or what we think today, but what is known beyond serious dispute.
As Democratic rhetoric becomes increasingly strident and condemnations are voiced with fewer and fewer caveats, the likelihood that some Democrats may become victims of their own hubris continues to rise. Of course, Prof. Busch has some advice for Bush as well:
Yet unless the administration does a better job of reminding the public (and the world) of what we do know, it runs the risk of allowing its credibility to be unnecessarily undermined with potentially great cost in Iran, North Korea, and beyond. And one of Bush’s greatest electoral assets—public belief in his sincerity and trustworthiness—will be vulnerable to attack.
(link via No Left Turns)
Posted by Greg at July 10, 2003 12:18 PM | TrackBack (1)Once again, a post in the GOP column about what the Democrats should/shouldn’t do.
Come on GOP editors.
I dare you to try to have 3 consectutive posts about undeniably positive reasons your boys deserve victories in 2003 and 2004.
Come on. Three is a row. Three undeniably positive reasons. No mention of Democrats, Liberals or the Clintons.
Three posts of nothing but whay the GOP is good.
Can you do it?
Can you?
Rob
Posted by: Robbie D at July 10, 2003 03:35 PMAnd one more thing…
“It is impossible to say what discoveries the future will bring…”
This is more GOP spin. Who cares what the future brings? We were told Iraq could wipe us and our allies out in 45 minutes. Saddam was a mad man on the verge and HAD to be STOPPED and the UN would take too much time.
That’s the lie. Don’t change the topic you neo-conmen!
Iraq clearly couldn’t find TP to wipe themselves with in 45 minutes.
I don’t care what else is found now. The lie is done. It has been proven.
There was no immiment danger. Even Rummy admitted yesterday there was no post 9/11 new intel.
We were had!
We were had on the war, taxes, union busting and so much more. Now we are about to be had on future Iraq costs, Head Start and overtime pay.
WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Robbie D at July 10, 2003 03:40 PMThis red herring keeps coming up. The issue is not WMD. The issue is the lies that we were told to justify a war. The White House admitted it made a mistake, and many are starting to think they lied about the Niger uranium stuff. And that’s only one of several lies or mistakes they made.
Even if we find a functioning nuke tomorrow, that will not change the fact the GWB and crew seem to have misled us to get us to go along cheerfully with the Iraq war.
Posted by: Timothy Klein at July 11, 2003 03:01 AMFrom the discussions I have had with Congressional and other leaders, I have concluded that because of the Watergate matter I might not have the support of the Congress that I would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office in the way the interests of the Nation would require.
I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as President, I must put the interest of America first. America needs a full-time President and a full-time Congress, particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad.
To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home.
Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President at that hour in this office.
- Richard Nixon
http://www.luminet.net/~tgort/resign.htm
Robin Cook said in his resignation speech, “The threshold for war should always be high.” Mr. Busch implies that the evidence, most of which is inferential, would be sufficient to convict a defendant were it to be presented in a criminal case,. Using the metaphor of a criminal case to compare invading a country and killing tens of thousands of people and spending billions of dollars per month is not reasonable. I would hope that Mr. Busch would think that the threshold for sending a single person to jail is significantly less than the threshold for war.
Recent attempts by many Democrats to blame the President for the manipulation of facts are misguided. The Democrats voted to give President Bush the authorization to go to war. The American public had access to all the facts. Thousands of American’s protested, including myself, due to the lack of a compelling reason to go to war given the available facts. But many others did not. President Bush was also doing what any good businessman would do to sell his idea. He marketed it very effectively. The responsibility for deciding to go to war due to a lack of compelling reasons lay not with the President, but with the elected officials in the House and Senate and in the voice of the American public to give that responsibility to the President. In this case, and in many other cases regarding the welfare of our country, the American public idly sat by and bought into the message that was fed to them by the same people trying to sell them the idea rather than listening to other viewpoints and making an educated, well informed decision. Yes the press is supposed to assist the public with this task, but the press is a product of the public. The press does only what we want them to do. Every time you buy a paper or tune into a specific news program, you are casting a vote endorsing that particular information source.
Posted by: Neilson at July 11, 2003 03:13 PM
Neilson -
My eyes are moist from your wonderful apology for Bush… from laughing.
Here’s the part you missed: Congress abdicated their duty. You are right. They gave Bush the choice. And he made a choice based on lies, personal revenge and properity for the filthy rich oil and war barrons.
Bush is a crminal. Impeachment is the answer.
As the great new shirts say: IMPEACHMENT: It’s not just for consensual sex anymore!
Bush = done
If he has any honor, his resignation will include his entire cabinet and the majority and minority leaders in Congress.
Robbie D
Posted by: Robbie D at July 11, 2003 03:33 PMMay I recommend decaf, Robbie?
Millions of Iraqis are grateful that we liberated them from the world’s most heinous dictator, and sooner or later, all compassionate people will recognize this was a just war, as most of them already do.
Posted by: Richard Bennett at July 12, 2003 05:50 PMRichard,
People may recognize it was a just war *if* we get our act together and do what needs to be done to reconstruct Iraq. Jury is still out on that one, I hope we do the right thing. While we are at it, we should finish up the first war we started and make some committments in Afghanistan.
But that said, whether or not this was a ‘just war’ for the Iraqis is a totally separate issue from whether or not GWB was honest with us about why we needed to wage the war.
Posted by: Timothy Klein at July 13, 2003 06:58 PMand how is this quote a “lie”
“the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
It is not a lie. Is it? How?
Those 16 words were not a lie. Ed Koch x dem mayor of NYC believes Bush and is going to vote for him in 04 and says dems would be smart to hush. (newsmax july 16 pundits)
Posted by: sparrow at July 26, 2003 06:44 PM
