Courtesy of Michelle Malkin, we have a preview of the President’s remarks at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska in which he inches closer to calling out Democrats by name who are accusing him falsely of lying about pre-war Iraq intel:
Reasonable people can disagree about the conduct of the war – but it is irresponsible for Democrats to now claim that we misled them and the American people. Leaders in my Administration and members of Congress from both parties looked at the same intelligence on Iraq – and reached the conclusion that Saddam Hussein was a threat. Let me give you quotes from three senior Democrats: First, quote, “There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons.†End quote. Here’s another one, quote, “The war against terrorism will not be finished as long as [Saddam Hussein] is in power.†End quote. And here’s the way another Democratic leader summed it up, quote, “Saddam Hussein, in effect, has thumbed his nose at the world community. And I think that the President’s approaching this in the right fashion.â€
An excellent tactic. The President is leaving it to the press to put a name with those quotes which still leaves him somewhat above the fray. I daresay Senator Rockefeller is probably spending an uncomfortable evening as he is almost certainly the author of the first quote (as quoted here by the Captain). Rockefeller is also quoted in that article as disavowing his Iraq vote saying he’s “not respsonsible.” This is another vein that the President should be mining; the furious backtracking by Democratic politicians on their votes to go to war.
In fact, the two avenues of attack are interconnected. Apparently, the Democrats are trying to argue that the only reason they voted to go to war was that they were misled and lied to by the President. By knocking the chocks from underneath one argument, their whole rationale for the attack falls apart. The President and Republicans running next year should be able to pose the question: Are the Democrats dummies or liars?
Unfortunately, the new found combativeness on the part of the President probably comes a little too late to do him much good. The most recent poll shows the President’s trustworthiness tanking along with the belief that the war was worth it. So while not changing many minds about the President ((only events on the ground in Iraq could do that) by giving the lie to the Democrats scurrilous charges, it should help Republicans in both 2006 and 2008.
Meanwhile, on a related note, there are two articles you should read that make cogent arguments about the President and the war. John Cole has a superior piece about Jay Rockefeller’s disingenuousness while the Good Doctor Sanity has an outstanding article on Bush Derangement Syndrome (that should drive any moonbats who read it absolutely batty).
7:51 pm
I’ve decided I can no longer take off points on my students’ exams when they right down the wrong answer. There’s really no way for me to know if they reasoned incorrectly or if they were just working with flawed intelligence.
7:52 pm
Laughed out loud at that one.
9:05 pm
BUSH BATTLES BACK, ROUND II
The RNC has just e-mailed an advance copy of the remarks President Bush will deliver this evening at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. Here’s a key excerpt: Reasonable people can disagree about the conduct of the war –Â...
9:35 pm
Bush Keeps On Attacking
Bush is still battling back thank god: (via Michelle Malkin)
Reasonable people can disagree about the conduct of the war – but it is irresponsible for Democrats to now claim that we misled them and the American people. Leaders in my Administratio…
10:55 pm
Dougj:
Where are you teaching? I ask only because I want my grandchilden attending schools other than the one where you teach students the write way to right.
10:58 pm
“The President and Republicans running next year should be able to pose the question: Are the Democrats dummies or liars?”
Easy answer to that.
Some of us believed that, when it comes to matters of peace and war, a president should be given the benefit of the doubt. This president has proved our belief wrong.
11:05 pm
Bush Continues To Counter-Attack
(See my previous related post here.) ... Read the official transcript of President Bush’s speech here. ...
11:12 pm
I guess the key to the “going down fighting” meme is the “going down” part, as in, “Man, Bush is going down!”
Bush mislead Congress and his best defense is, “You morons actually believed me
”
Hilarious.
11:52 pm
Keep driving these points home, Mr. Prez
The President gave a speech tonight Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska – the speech is a continuation of the same theme that the President has been pushing hard over the last week in response to the lying Democrats in Congress who are tryin…
11:58 pm
Kyle,
Nice try, but no cigar.
So let me get this straight: in your world all people who make important decisions that turn out to be incorrect, but which are based on bum information that was provided to them by credentialed world-class experts, are “liars.”
Gee, if that’s the case, you’d better go out to your car and peel off your “Nobody died when Clinton lied” bumpersticker. I seem to remember a certain Sudanese pharmaceutical plant and a li’l ol’ war in the Balkans….
12:13 am
I was there for the speech at Elmendorf today. President Bush was very warmly received by military and dependents. They seemed very glad to hear that we will not run from the fight. We cheered when he said that we will accept nothing less than total victory. He stated that our progress is steady and important. He appeared confident and steadfast. I find it comforting when he asks God to continue to bless America. I am glad he is answering the critics that continue to backbite and second-guess for political gain. It was a great speech.
3:31 am
[...] utting in jeopardy terrorism investigators and current investigations. Linking… Right Wing Nut House
[...]
8:42 am
So let me get this straight: in your world all people who make important decisions that turn out to be incorrect, but which are based on bum information that was provided to them by credentialed world-class experts, are “liars.â€
In my world, which is the business world, “incorrect” decisions with disasterous consequences, whatever they are based on, will get you fired. That’s just the way it is.
9:30 am
Pug, that’s just BS. Shit rolls downhill. The people who supplied you the data would be the ones out the door, unless you are an idiot, of course.
11:04 am
Bush supplied the data. So… I hope you’re right.
They were wrong- they admit it. We can’t trust them anymore.
11:27 am
Ranking minority member on the Senate Intelligence Committee Jay Rockefeller (D-WV): “[P]eople say, ‘Well, you know, you all had the same intelligence that the White House had.’ And I’m here to tell you that is nowhere near the truth. We not only don’t have, nor probably should we have, the Presidential Daily Brief. We don’t have the constant people who are working on intelligence who are very close to him. They don’t release their — an administration which tends not to release — not just the White House, but the CIA, DOD [Department of Defense], others — they control information. There’s a lot of intelligence that we don’t get that they have.†[11/04/05]
12:06 pm
GOP Goes After Weathervane Hawks
GOP Goes After Weathervane Hawks
GOP.com isn’t messing around. It has unveiled a new video:
12:14 pm
Please, someone explain what “turned out to be incorrect” beyind the fact that that our intelligence regarding where the WMD were was not accurate? Are you saying that a) they never existed, or that b) we should have known better where they were?
The fact is, only the goofiest moonbats pretend that they never existed- tell that to those Iranians who survived the chemical assaults in the 1980’s.
What we still don’t know is what happened to them. We don’t know whether they were dumped into the Tigris, buried in the Bekaa Valley, sold to free-lancers, recycled into conventional ammunition, or all used up.
Chemical weapons, especially the most rudimentary types, which are the most dangerous because they are very unstable, lack adequate safe-arm mechanisms, and also tend to leak, have a more limited shelf life than others. Did Saddam take the advice of the Russian generals sent to help him prepare? Did they take some away?
Or did he simply let the old weapons die and establish the quick-start dual-use facilities (far easier for chem rounds than any other types- you prepare the shells and S&A’s, keep them empty, then mix the load in a bathtub and fill just before battle, which solves the shelf life problem) that we found?
Either way, my challenge to the lefties out there, which includes Rich’s beloved brother, is to truthfully ask yourself whether you would personally have gone to Iraq as an embedded reporter in March, 2003, without wearing chem protective gear. If you say that you would have, sorry, you are a liar.
This stuff is all about risk, not metaphysical certainty. The same people who glibly sit back in Washington sniping about intel and saying that we should have trusted Saddam are also telling us that we need to uproot the entire economy because of some infinitesimal possible risk of anthropogenic global warming and the near zero possibility that it could cause a problem- all without worrying at all about the “cost”.
To quote Senator Byrd, “B-U-N-K, BUNK!”
1:30 pm
spunch and the lefties: I got up on the wrong side of the bed and can’t listen to this myopic bilge any more with out responding:
“Bush supplied the data. So… I hope you’re right.
They were wrong- they admit it. We can’t trust them anymore.”
Where the hell do you come up with that gem? Bush didn’t supply anything, he RECIEVED the data, just like the SENATE and HOUSE.
Are you saying the Iraqis never had chemical weapons? Ask the Kurds about that. Are you saying that we should have known where it all went when Hussein wouldn’t tell us? What happened to all that stuff that the U.N. couldn’t account for? It just “went away”?
You can assume it all went away by magic but not me. That kind os assumption gets you killed and because I trust Bush more than Saddam. Maybe you don’t but that wouldn’t surprise me since most lefties live in an alternate universe.
If we had gone into Iraq when Bush originally wanted to (instead of waiting to satisfy the left) my bet is you would have found everything that you think never existed.
The fact that Iraq had nearly a year to move it just doesn’t sink in to you folks does it, even after Sen. Rockefeller warned them in a 2002 visit to the Middle East:”I took a trip by myself in January of 2002 to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, and I told each of the heads of state that it was my view that George Bush had already made up his mind to go to war against Iraq.” Gee….Syria wouldn’t say anything to Iraq would they?
I’ll write a letter to Bush and tell him to make sure that he consults with you before he makes his next move, I’m sure you have more access to accurate info than he does and, well, I know you are never wrong…...
5:13 pm
I have been searching and searching and yet I cannot find the list of Bush’s lies about Iraq. Perhaps someone could post it so we could all understand what a dirty stinking liar he really is. Why is the list so difficult to come by?
9:16 pm
Here it is, right on Rockefeller’s site.
http://rockefeller.senate.gov/news/2002/flrstmt0102002.html
5:31 pm
As a liberal, I can say honestly that the Democrats were cowardly and leaderless when they voted for the war resolution…and now they are trying to say that they actually were all against it. Not suprising, if you read and liberal blogs, you rapidly realize that the Democrats are not a loyal opposition, but just ‘republican-lite’. They now are trying to stake out a position opposed to the president as they see that it is politically popular. What a bunch of cowards. I don’t think Bush is right in his actions, but that definitely doen’t make them right in theirs. Still, I have hope. Lets see how the 2006 and ‘08 canidates look. I could be persuaded to vote for someone like Guilliani (sp?).