So Bush admitted today that he lied to the country to "maintain morale"

[Bluebear]

President George W. Bush said on Friday he was worried in 2006 that the United States would fail in Iraq but stated publicly at the time that it was winning because he needed to maintain morale.

"I was worried. Look, I'm worried any time it looks like we're going to fail in Iraq," Bush said during an ABC News interview at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he was spending the weekend with family.

Bush, due to leave office in January 2009 after the U.S. presidential election in November, said he became worried about a U.S. failure when violence spiked in Iraq in mid-2006 and he began to seek out opinions on what to do.

He ultimately decided to boost troop levels by 30,000 in 2007 in a so-called "surge."

"I thought it was failing, yes, I did," Bush said.

Asked why he was telling the American public at the time that U.S. forces were winning, Bush said: "I think if you'd go through the -- kind of fully analyze my statements, I was also saying 'The fighting is very tough."'

Pressed to justify his upbeat public assessments at the time, he added: "That's as much trying to bolster the spirits of the people in the field as well as -- look, you can't have the commander-in-chief say to a bunch of kids who are sacrificing either 'It's not worth it' or 'You're losing.' I mean, what does that do for morale?"

"I'm the commander-in-chief of the military as well obviously as, you know, somebody who speaks to the country," he said. "And if you look at my remarks, they were balanced. They weren't Pollyannaish."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080411/ts_nm/usa_iraq_bush_dc

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Nothing boosts morale like being lied to by an asshole. nt

[Supersedeas]

42. but if it helps TV Execs to sell cars, beers, and shoes--they'll disseminate the lie as truth

[Solly Mack]

2. LOL Bullshit

That man needs to shoo

[Juche]

3. We're a nation of 8 year olds

We need to be lied to because we can't handle reality.

[SammyWinstonJack]

22. Who's "we"?

:shrug: The "8 years olds" are running this nation. Reality doesn't serve their plans.

[elizfeelinggreat]

25. I'm with you on the "we"s

I know it's much too easy to pick up that framing but I'm insisting that people put the blame where it belongs.

And don't include ME in their "we". I knew DAMN WELL they were LYING. I know I wasn't alone. The person who writes the "we" possibly wasn't fooled either if they found their way here.

Let's start laying the blame where it belongs - on the media and the mega-corporations and the REPUBLICANS (not just Bush) who put us in this mess. Have their ever missed a chance to give us credit where it's due?

I think I'm done ranting on that for now. Sorry but it always hits a nerve.

[Juche]

26. It is sarcasm

That is the mentality, that we can't handle the truth so we need to be deprived of info and fed half true propaganda (spin) all the time. The public are treated as subjects to manipulate with omissions, half truths and one liners, not members of a functional democracy. It is what Al Gore talked about in the first few chapters of his book the assault on reason.

All it does it make debate harder because then you have to fact check everything you hear.

[chknltl]

4. KnR

Didn't Petrayus say something about the surge pulling us back from the brink? Brink of what? I seem to remember hearing how well we were doing over there and given just a little more time and a few more troops we would win! What we were going to win has yet to be made clear and now I want to know what brink were we on prior to the surge. More importantly: We were lied to AGAIN and we knew at the time we were being lied to. So what have these world class liars done to earn ANYONE'S trust?

[man4allcats]

5. I wish he'd just sip

the pond water and spare us all anymore grief.

[EFerrari]

6. Bluebear, my countdown keychain died last month

but my internal one is still ticking.

It's April.

[Rex]

7. How can we fail, o glorious leader? You said mission accomplished

and flew onto an aircraft carrier in a military uniform. The real problem, George, is that the nation has very low moral because of you and your criminal organization. See, no one is fooled anymore because you don't even hide the lies anymore. Anything for a war you started, right?


Daddy got his own aircraft carrier and said Junior could be Commander George Walker Texas Ranger.

[stillcool]

8. yeah right...

like the truth has ever passed through his lips about anything.

[DCKit]

9. "Some people" have the grace to die of natural causes. n/t

[Kip Humphrey]

10. How can you ask someone to die for your lie? Keep lying of coarse!

[Elspeth]

11. Was this on the TV news?

..

[cornermouse]

12. He's lied about more than the war.

He's lied about war injuries, unemployment and job loss, state of the economy, crime rates, the list is endless because he's lied about everything.

[deutsey]

16. Not to mention the lie that he won the 2000 election...n/t

[cornermouse]

18. Yeppers.

[peekaloo]

13. getting tougher and tougher to squeeze into that cheerleader uni ,eh Jorge?

asshole

[susu369]

14. Disgusting

"...you can't have the commander-in-chief say to a bunch of kids who are sacrificing..."

The brave men and women who are serving are certainly not "a bunch of kids."

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. No respect. absolutely NONE! January is too far away!

[deutsey]

15. And a grateful, deluded nation cries, "Thank you!"

:evilfrown:

[rhymeandreason]

17. Staying the Course

So "staying the curse" apparently means to continue to engage in massive fraud and deception. :sarcasm:

[Bluebear]

19. I like your unintended misspelling: "staying the curse"

:toast:

[B Calm]

20. The same course as the Titanic!

[SammyWinstonJack]

21. LOOK! You lie and try to cover it up by acting like you actually give a shit this country

the American people and the troops mean zero too you. Sick little man, you are.

[spanone]

24. fuck you junior

[Marr]

27. I fucking despise this excuse for a man and his supportive corporate media--

he comes right out and admits to having lied to the country on the most important of issues, and they leave it alone. He just waves off his own responsibility as well, alluding to some lawyerly interpretation of his words, suggesting he could be considered to have told the truth here and there if you look at it a certain way.

He seems to think that's just fine. The corporate media seems to think that's just fine. Hell, this Congress seems to think it's just fine.

[Elspeth]

28. Is this more Leo Strauss and the old Platonic "noble lie" crap?

Sounds like it.

[samspade.]

29. Well, like the man said.

Lying about Social Security

If you've retired, you don't have anything to worry about -- third time I've said that. (Laughter.) I'll probably say it three more times. See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. (Applause.)

It wasn't that he spoke the truth so baldly that gets me, but it was a freakin applause line. Yeah, my morale's just fine. :mad:

Sam

[Bluebear]

30. Meanwhile, welcome to DU.

Glad to have ya, Sam.

[samspade.]

36. Thanks Bluebear.

Looks like an interesting place.

Sam

[Hannah Bell]

37. When I hear cynical,mocking statements like that, I can't think why this man has

any support left. He's a disgrace.

[Horse with no Name]

31. All abusers will tell you they did it for "your own good"

Why would Bush be any different?

[gratuitous]

32. And yet . . .

After he's lied to their faces time after time, after he's admitted the lies, the self-serving prevarications and all the rest, the court stenographers in the seats of responsibility in the media just write it all down and pretend it's all true. But didja see Obama ordered orange juice at breakfast? Now that's a serious matter that has to be discussed and dissected at length!

[malaise]

33. Bush opens his mouth

Bush lies.

[Disturbed]

34. Will the young men & women & the older troops appreciate

being called a bunch of kids?

Busholini is not only the worst Pres. the US ever had but he is a
despicable person.

[BlooInBloo]

35. Well, that's better than his previous reason, which was "so that I could kill me some a-rabs".

[Quantess]

38. What an a-hole. (no text)

[orleans]

39. what a motherfu*ker. n/t

[SalmonChantedEvening]

40. Couldn't let them know the truth.

I think they kinda knew, blivet. They were THERE.

Not dancing for the cameras or cracking jokes about death in Afghanistan.

:grr:

[Supersedeas]

41. unwilling to admit failure until it smacks him in the face: history repeating itself while the Media

establishment sleeps....cocktails anyone?

[rcsl1998]

43. Kick