We are now on
step 2 step 3 (see below the fold) of Bush's bad news defusing SOP:
- Deny, hope it will go away
- Confuse the issue, being unable to deny it anymore, focus in a completely irrelevant and unrelated issue to muddy the waters
- Rewrite History: Can't deny, can't confuse the issue ? Say it has been known all along. "It's old news, Bush never said he did NOT plan the war since 2001"...
Denying didn't work so now they dispute a tiny point of one of the briefing papers...
The Bush administration's blatant DSM contradiction
Last week, the Bush administration was trying to "discredit" the Downing Street Memo; but this week, they are saying that a briefing paper about the same meeting is essentially correct. Last week, they denied that a war was being planned; but this week, they all but admit that it was being planned at least 8 months in advance.
When taking [a] NSC memo leaked by former Treasury Secetary Paul O'Neill into account, we can assume that the planning actually started 2001.(1)
Muddle and spin didn't work so now we have # 3 - Rewirite History: Everyone knows Bush was
planning the war
Deja vu all over again: Bush never said he WAS NOT planning a war
It appears we moved on to step 3 on Bush's bad news spinning SOP: Pretend this was known all along but "Bush never said it himself". Just as the ridiculously childish claim that Bush never said Iraq was an imminent risk to US (He said immediate, urgent... Condi, Rummie and Ari said imminent... but Bush never said that specific word so he's on the clear)
LAT: Bush never said it himself
Deja Vu all over again... So a minister level UK official will produce a briefing based on unfounded rumors of what Bush didn't say ?
Yuck, even the title is offensive!!! So "hear say" by C doesn't count ? But the Niger yellowcake rumor that made into Bush's State of the Union counts ? What about the fact that "C" was a high level - Ministerial cabinet briefing level - official ? We're not talking about fishwives in a market or Wonkette here!
The Left Gets a Memo: "the memo is not proof that
Bush had decided on war. It states that war is 'now seen as inevitable' by 'Washington.'
NYT: proof "War decision" wasn't made ?!?!?
The lies start on the piece's title: The Memo said Bush & Blair had already commited to war and regime change in April 2003. But the POLITICAL decision, i.e. war vote, manipulating congress and public opinion was not finalized yet.
Prewar British Memo Says War Decision Wasn't Made - New York Times
A memorandum written by Prime Minister Tony Blair's cabinet office in late July 2002 explicitly states that the Bush administration had made "no political decisions" to invade Iraq, but that American military planning for the possibility was advanced... In Washington last week, Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair denied that they made any decision in 2002, and suggested that the memorandum was being misinterpreted
Strong BS smell
Hey righties, how about combining your answers into a credible pile of BS ? When the LAT says "Bush never said it" and the NYT says "Bush said it but he didn't mean it" we are left with some obvious BS smell in the air..
The lies start on the piece's title...