August 9, 2007
OFP: Out of Context
“I can’t give you the precise moment, but obviously the minute I heard that the facts that most people believed were true were not true, that I expect there to be a full investigation and get to the bottom of it.”
That’s a recent statement from Our Fine President pulled from its original context and stripped of its true intent. It coincidentally works well in a bunch of other contexts and in this way illustrates the hypocrisy and selective ideals with which he’s been running things.
What could our favorite Decider be talking about? I guess we should start by listing “facts” he and his people have spread as the truth that have turned out not to be true: (in all cases, getting to the bottom of it still pending)
- There was a connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaida
- The science is still unsettled about global warming
- Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of banned weapons
- al Qaida is our main enemy in Iraq
- The war in Iraq is the most important front in the war on terror
- Brownie was doing a heckuva job
- The insurgency is in its last throes
- We’re fighting them there so we don’t have to fight them here
- Federal prosecutors were not fired for political reasons
- The Valerie Plame leaker will be fired
- Scooter Libby’s prison sentence was excessive punishment for his crime
- Alberto Gonzalez hasn’t done anything wrong
- That his government is run on the principle “We must always ask ourselves not only what is legal, but what is right. There is no goal of government worth accomplishing if it cannot be accomplished with integrity.”
- We had good reason to invade Iraq
- There is no secret program to spy on Americans
- The FBI is always following the rules to obtain personal records
- We don’t torture our prisoners
- Our system of laws has no way to handle terrorists so they must be kept outside the system and be stripped of all rights
- Abstinence education is effective
- The Iraq war will be quick easy and cost effective
- Iraq’s oil revenues mean it’s a country that can fund its own recovery
- Our soldiers get all the care they deserve when they get home
- You go to (elective) war with the army you have, not the army you wish you had
- There isn’t an active healthcare crisis
- No child is being left behind
- Our enemies hate freedom
- Mission Accomplished
- He looked into Vladimir Putin’s eye and got a sense of his soul
- Pat Tillman was killed by enemy fire
Wow, that’s a long list and I’m pretty sure there’s plenty more. That’s quite a few bottoms to be gotten to and I don’t think Our Fine President or his people have been in any way helpful toward the people actually trying to do the bottom getting to. But if you’re guessing what that quote was about, the last one is the correct answer, and it’s amazing how much sympathy he showed.
“I can understand why Pat Tillman’s family, you know, has got significant emotions. A man they loved and respected was killed while he was serving his country. I always admired the fact that a person who was relatively comfortable in life would be willing to take off one uniform and put on another to defend America, and the best way to honor that commitment of his is to find out the truth, and I’m confident the Defense Department wants to find out the truth too and will lay it out for the Tillman family.”
Of course seeing as the DoD would have a vested interest in covering up any intentional mistruths from the department, they don’t seem like the best place to go if you want some real unbiased fact-finding action.
And what’s all that about admiring Tillman’s choice to leave the NFL to serve his country in Afghanistan? It seems Our Fine President and those who most support this war have no interest in actually trying to live up to what they admire. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble to keep them and their loved ones away from military service.
Maybe I need to add that line about admiring people who serve in the military as number 30.