Why Are We Ruled by These Fools?
Why don't these people ever consider the option of starting out by telling the truth? I mean, telling the press "I don't know, but I'll find out" rather than "Yes" would seem to be a good idea, no?
Posted by DeLong at February 04, 2003 02:50 PM | TrackbackAssociated Press, February 4, 2003 -- A day after telling reporters that Bush had visited Johnson Space Center while serving as governor of Texas in the 1990s, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer backpedaled from that assertion. "I think right now it's somewhat murky," the press secretary said aboard Air Force One Tuesday, en route to a memorial service for the seven Columbia astronauts who died in last weekend's tragedy. On Monday, Fleischer dismissed suggestions that Bush had not been interested in the NASA program before the Columbia crash and rejected a report that Bush had never been to the Space Center. He told reporters the president visited the facility near Houston in 1995 or 1996. The spokesman did not know the exact date, and promised to do more research.
Fleischer said Tuesday that after further review, Bush's staff could find no record of the visit. "Johnson Space Center says that he did not go there, and I'm not able to find the exact date. So that's why I say it's murky," Fleischer said. "To the president's recollection, he thinks he has been there," his spokesman said, adding that Bush's staff from Texas also thought they recalled such a visit. The spokesman said Bush has never seen a NASA launch or landing, in part because there are so many other beautiful things to see in the country that he has yet to explore...
The press went into a feeding frenzy when Candidate Al Gore said he had been to a particular disaster with FEMA official Jamie Lee Witt. He went to that disaster without Witt, and a different disaster with Witt. Evidently, the Republicans have perfected a ray that shrinks journalists' testes.
Posted by: Andrew Lazarus on February 4, 2003 07:27 PMAri invented 1994-5 to deflate the growing (true) rumor that Bush cared so little about the space program he'd never visited the site. He simply fabricated a story de toute piece, as the French say, to keep a nasty news item about hypocrisy from hitting the papers.
Being found out, within days, was less likely to make the press. Proof? I heard the 1994-5 rebuttal, and never heard until now that it was a Fleischer fabrication. Advantage: Fleischer, that lying fuck. But as said above, not if the press had any balls. Bush would be sunk so low it would be a wonder if he could pass gas. That about sums up the "genius" of Karl Rove et al. I do think the press keeps track of these things, even if they don't report them, and their hostility to Ari is evidence.
Ari invented 1994-5 to deflate the growing (true) rumor that Bush cared so little about the space program he'd never visited the site. He simply fabricated a story de toute piece, as the French say, to keep a nasty news item about hypocrisy from hitting the papers.
Being found out, within days, was less likely to make the press. Proof? I heard the 1994-5 rebuttal, and never heard until now that it was a Fleischer fabrication. Advantage: Fleischer, that lying fuck. But as said above, not if the press had any balls. Bush would be sunk so low it would be a wonder if he could pass gas. That about sums up the "genius" of Karl Rove et al. I do think the press keeps track of these things, even if they don't report them, and their hostility to Ari is evidence.
Why tell the truth when a lie will do just as well?
Posted by: Barry on February 5, 2003 05:31 AM