Caught Bush’s speech tonight.
So nice that the administration told the networks that the speech was to commemorate 9/11 and honor those who died….except what we got was more desperate attempts to defend Bush’s increasingly obvious mistake to invade Iraq, linking it to “the War on Terror”, and reminding us that “we need to be united” (in other words, don’t listen to the 2/3rds of the American people who disagree with the administration….and for God’s sake, whatever you do, don’t vote us out of power, ‘cuz that wouldn’t be “united”….).
I know I shouldn’t be surprised when a Republican exploits 9/11 for their own political gain, but I figured that doing so on the day itself, in the guise of a commemoration, was beyond the bounds of even that morally-bankrupt philosophy.
Huh. Guess not.
Go over to MSNBC and find Olbermann’s OP-ED piece from this evening. It’s amazing.
I watched it when it was originally broadcast tonight (which, coincidentally, is how I caught the speech, since it followed Olbermann).
It is well done — but this kind of thing needs to be said in on the evening broadcast news, not on a cable channel, where it’s playing to the choir. Unfortunately, with the orchestrated removal of Dan Rather, the chance of any real journalists getting those anchor chairs are pretty much slim to none.
But I was glad that at least on the channel I was watching, the newscasters were very quick to point out that that was exactly what he was doing! Good for them!
What channel featured such nearly-mythical creatures?
Actually, it was the one with Katie Couric. She didn’t say that so much, but the male newscaster got pretty close to it! I wasn’t really paying much attention to which channel, I was just waiting for it to be over. BTW, when I see you next, I have something humourous to tell you! Remind me!
The view from your allies…
Hell over here in the UK the line the BBC keeps playing over and over is;
“We didn’t ask for this war” (In Iraq)
Um. While I agree that the sentence in 9/11 terms is true, in the context of the speech based on the war in Iraq it is entirely 100% inaccurate. If I remember Bush asked the UN several times, and was told no on each occassion…
Most worrying was the revalation that Bush doesn’t like the war but…
“The war will continue until either we or the extremists emerge victorious…” (*Slight Paraphrase for memory degradation.)
Considering the nature of the war this is a VERY worrying concept as it is very unlikely that the big lumbering war machine that is the combined allied forces in Iraq (and Afghanistan) can route out and destroy every single element in opposition, and their continuing actions help create an atmosphere of fear, violence and hatred that makes for the perfect recruitment group for the kind of bastards that have absolutely no intention of committing suicide, but every intention of convincing a kid to do so…
And the extremists cant win in a stand up fight, nor are they likely to be commiting resources to do so… So it will remain in a stalemate, and according to Bush, will continue to do so until a change in the presidency…
Unless we get lucky and he’s lying again.
(Meanwhile Blair faces daily calls for his resignation, and has announced he will step down within 12 months.)
I made the same mistake and heard his address
I was particularly hit by Bush when he said:
“So we changed our policies, and committed America’s influence in the world to advancing freedom and democracy as the great alternatives to repression and radicalism.”
Radicalism. He loves the words “radicalism” and “extremist”. They remind him of his Fundamentalist base.
“We look to the day when moms and dads throughout the Middle East see a future of hope and opportunity for their children. And when that good day comes, the clouds of war will part, the appeal of radicalism will decline, and we will leave our children with a better and safer world.”
We’re looking for the same thing here, Mr. President, in the United States.
“Winning this war will require the determined efforts of a unified country, and we must put aside our differences and work together to meet the test that history has given us. We will defeat our enemies. We will protect our people. And we will lead the 21st century into a shining age of human liberty.”
Wait a second, I thought back in 2004 when Bush was asked “Can we win the war on terror?”, he said, “I don’t think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the — those who use terror as a tool are — less acceptable in parts of the world.”
So now we can win it. I wonder when that changed?
I was literally rendered nauseous reading the transcript – does anyone else find it not coincidental that this load of crap from the Monkey in Chief happened to dovetail into ABC’s deceptive little ‘docudrama’ that also linked the war in Iraq with 9/11 and al Qaeda? Am I being paranoid, or is the administration just playing the same old cards in their hand over and over and over? They’re like poorly-trained dogs that only know the one trick and perform it endlessly.
That’s an insult to poorly-trained dogs.
At least poorly-trained dogs are cute …