Misrepresentation

One of the more annoying characteristics of those who have decided that President Bush is the root of all evil is the tendency of those people to twist what he, and others they see as carrying a message for him,  say into something completely different from what he (or others) actually said. Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post would be an example.

For some reason, Bush and Rumsfeld also decided to drop in on the Legionnaires' 88th yearly gathering. Cheney, meanwhile, was spending quality time with the Veterans of Foreign Wars at their convention in Reno.

Do we discern a pattern? The lavish attention being paid to veterans' groups isn't about what year it is, it's about what month it is. Unless the Republican base is somehow energized and the rest of us somehow scared stiff by November, the Democrats have a decent chance of taking the House of Representatives and even an outside shot at the Senate.

That's where all the administration rhetoric about Nazis, commies, fascism and appeasement has to be coming from, because, absent the political context, it makes no sense. It's all heat and no light.

We can pretty much set aside Cheney's recent remarks, since he's been wandering in the rhetorical wilderness for a long time now. But I can't resist citing one line. He told the VFW that the "Bush Doctrine" is to hold accountable "any person or government that supports, protects or harbors terrorists." So what about the newly installed Iraqi government, with its suspected ties to Shiite death squads? And what about the Pakistani government, which gives the Taliban and al-Qaeda safe harbor?

Okay, one more from Cheney. To those who point out that Iraq wasn't a nexus of terrorism until we invaded, Cheney responds, "They overlook a fundamental fact: We were not in Iraq on September 11th, 2001, and the terrorists hit us anyway."

Huh? The terrorists who attacked on Sept. 11 didn't come from Iraq. Except in Cheney's mind, I don't know where the fact that we were attacked by terrorists trained in Afghanistan (and sent by Osama bin Laden, who's probably now in Pakistan) somehow mitigates the fact that we've made Iraq a hotbed of terrorism.

Robinson knows full well that is NOT what Cheney said at all. His exact words are here, in the public record for all to read. Here are the exact words as opposed to Robinson's misinterpretation:

I know some have suggested that by liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein, we simply stirred up a hornet's nest. They overlook a fundamental fact: We were not in Iraq on September 11th, 2001, and the terrorists hit us anyway. As President Bush has said, the hatred of the radicals existed before Iraq was an issue, and it will exist after Iraq is no longer an excuse.

At no point did Cheney suggest, in any way whatsoever that the attacks came from Iraq. Robinson is deliberately twisting what was said by selectively quoting only a portion of what was said to skew the meaning, a particularly underhanded tactic. Rather than continue to flog this rather obviously politically motivated hit piece which can't even get basic facts correct, I'll just point this out. The year Robinson is referring to is also quite wrong. 2006 is not at all like 1939, the year that WWII started.

It is more like 1938, the year it might have been averted. But Robinson can't get that correct either. What a surprise.

• 

  By Roland Hesz, Tuesday, 5 September , 2006 @ 2:23 am

  He did not now.
  But he did a few years ago.
  Explicitly.
  Stating.
  Tha Iraq.
  Is.
  Connected.

  It is soooo easy to forget.
  How emberassing we have this stupid internet, right?

Other Links to this Post

1. The Heretik » Blog Archive » Bush Country — Tuesday, 5 September , 2006 @ 9:15 am