8.29.2004
Bush Admits Mistakes?!
No, no, he's not admitting to his involvement in the Swift Boat scandal. President Bush, speaking in an interview to the New York Times had a few interesting things to say about our "urgent" war in Iraq. (note:these stories will likely require a free login. Sorry, the NYTimes says so.) Here's a brief summary of the interview:
The paper quoted Bush as saying during a 30-minute interview that he made ``a miscalculation of what the conditions would be'' in post-war Iraq.
But he insisted that the 17-month-long insurgency was the unintended by-product of a ``swift victory'' against Saddam Hussein's military, the Times reported.
Am I the only one who finds it odd the New York Times is quoting the New York Times? Anyway...a bit more telling is the actual interview excerpts, found over here:
Ms. Bumiller: Do you think Senator Kerry lied about his war record?
THE PRESIDENT: I think Senator Kerry should be proud of his record.
Ms. Bumiller: But do you think he lied?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I don't think he lied, and I think that he ought to be proud of his record. Let me talk about a larger issue, and that is 527s. I spoke to John McCain today, and I think these ought to be outlawed. I thought they ought to be outlawed a year ago, when I — whenever I signed the bill. I think they're bad for the system. And when you've got people — you know, billionaires writing checks, large checks to try to influence the outcome of the election. And so I —
Ms. Bumiller: But Mr. President, if you don't think he lied, why can't you talk about this one ad, why can't you denounce it —
THE PRESIDENT: Elisabeth, 527s, 527s; the larger issue of 527s.
Ms. Bumiller: I'm talking about this smaller issue of this attack on Senator Kerry by Swift Boat Veterans —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I understand how Senator Kerry feels — I have been attacked by 527s, too. I think it's a — the issue is, let's get rid of them all. That's where we ought to be — that's where this debate ought to be, how to get rid of this money that's flowing into the system.
Ms. Bumiller: Can I just try one more time? You don't want to address that specific advertisement. Will you condemn it?
THE PRESIDENT: All those ads ought to go, Elisabeth, every one of them, including the ads that have been run on me. Millions of dollars have poured into this system in an unregulated fashion. And for 12 months there was silence. And all of a sudden now, people are taking exception to unregulated soft money. And John and I are going to work together to try to — we're going to file a lawsuit trying to end the process, not only for the money being on TV, but for the money that's involved in other parts of the process. And I hope you join us.
Never one to stand on his own, Bushie wants the Kerry campaign to denounce 527's yet he can't bring himself to talk about any of them specifically. Hmph. That's our President, a man of stern moral conviction. It doesn't matter what thhe 527's say, they should all go. Period. End of story.
These "miscalculations" might have been avoided if the administration had read the "massive plannning for post-innvasion Iraq developed by the CIA, the Army War College, and the State Department's Future of Iraq Project." (props to Al Franken for the nice quote abou the 13 volumes of recommendations that were wholly ignored by Cheney, Bush & crew. Read Al's book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them." There's a link on the right side of this page. I just finished it today and not only was it extremely well written and researched(he had a crew of 14 kids from Harvard helping him on this thing) but it's also exceptionally funny. I burst out in public several times last weekend while traveling to and from New York. I just couldn't help myself, he's just that good.
The paper quoted Bush as saying during a 30-minute interview that he made ``a miscalculation of what the conditions would be'' in post-war Iraq.
But he insisted that the 17-month-long insurgency was the unintended by-product of a ``swift victory'' against Saddam Hussein's military, the Times reported.
Am I the only one who finds it odd the New York Times is quoting the New York Times? Anyway...a bit more telling is the actual interview excerpts, found over here:
Ms. Bumiller: Do you think Senator Kerry lied about his war record?
THE PRESIDENT: I think Senator Kerry should be proud of his record.
Ms. Bumiller: But do you think he lied?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I don't think he lied, and I think that he ought to be proud of his record. Let me talk about a larger issue, and that is 527s. I spoke to John McCain today, and I think these ought to be outlawed. I thought they ought to be outlawed a year ago, when I — whenever I signed the bill. I think they're bad for the system. And when you've got people — you know, billionaires writing checks, large checks to try to influence the outcome of the election. And so I —
Ms. Bumiller: But Mr. President, if you don't think he lied, why can't you talk about this one ad, why can't you denounce it —
THE PRESIDENT: Elisabeth, 527s, 527s; the larger issue of 527s.
Ms. Bumiller: I'm talking about this smaller issue of this attack on Senator Kerry by Swift Boat Veterans —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I understand how Senator Kerry feels — I have been attacked by 527s, too. I think it's a — the issue is, let's get rid of them all. That's where we ought to be — that's where this debate ought to be, how to get rid of this money that's flowing into the system.
Ms. Bumiller: Can I just try one more time? You don't want to address that specific advertisement. Will you condemn it?
THE PRESIDENT: All those ads ought to go, Elisabeth, every one of them, including the ads that have been run on me. Millions of dollars have poured into this system in an unregulated fashion. And for 12 months there was silence. And all of a sudden now, people are taking exception to unregulated soft money. And John and I are going to work together to try to — we're going to file a lawsuit trying to end the process, not only for the money being on TV, but for the money that's involved in other parts of the process. And I hope you join us.
Never one to stand on his own, Bushie wants the Kerry campaign to denounce 527's yet he can't bring himself to talk about any of them specifically. Hmph. That's our President, a man of stern moral conviction. It doesn't matter what thhe 527's say, they should all go. Period. End of story.
These "miscalculations" might have been avoided if the administration had read the "massive plannning for post-innvasion Iraq developed by the CIA, the Army War College, and the State Department's Future of Iraq Project." (props to Al Franken for the nice quote abou the 13 volumes of recommendations that were wholly ignored by Cheney, Bush & crew. Read Al's book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them." There's a link on the right side of this page. I just finished it today and not only was it extremely well written and researched(he had a crew of 14 kids from Harvard helping him on this thing) but it's also exceptionally funny. I burst out in public several times last weekend while traveling to and from New York. I just couldn't help myself, he's just that good.
