Update [2006-8-21 13:13:15 by Bob Johnson]:
Crooks and Liars video clip along with transcript
I was listening to Numbnutz's presser and, in the middle of an off-kilter rampage about the "freedom agenda for the Middle East" and Iraq, Bush screamed (literally), "They killed 3,000 of our citizens!"
And just then, a reporter yelled out, "What did Iraq have to do with the 9-11 attack?" Bush said, "What?"
(Read on for Numbnutz's startling response...)
The reporter repeated the question and Bush yelled (again, literally), "Nothing!" And then he went on a rambling, insane rant about the Middle East.
So Bush tells the truth. Inadvertently, for sure, but the truth nonetheless. Dems should make an ad with this clip TODAY and run it in every Congressional district of those Repubs who've backed Bush on this war -- accompanied by videos of Bush and Cheney linking Iraq and 9-11.
Rove hates it when Bush doesn't wait for the prompted answers and tries to go off on his own. You can bet that Rove has him in some corner right now, screaming at him, "NEVER, NEVER think you can answer questions without listening to my prompts first! How many fucking times do I have to tell you? You fucking idiot!"
Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. George Bush just said so. Expressly. For the first time.
Update [2006-8-21 12:11:13 by Bob Johnson]:
No link to the video of this particular exchange yet, but as a number of folks have pointed out in the comments, Bush has admitted before that "we have no evidence" of a link between Iraq and 9-11.
Yet he has continued to imply a connection (as has Cheney) and today's clear-cut denial of any such link was the sharpest I have seen. No hedging. No "but they funded the suiciders (sic)." No "meeting in Bucharest."
Just a clear, unequivocal and seemingly off-script confession that there is no connection. And in a short, crisp soundbite (for the first time) that could be useful to Democrats in an election year.
Not to mention the fact that Bush appeared to be absolutely unhinged.