Ari Fleischer thinks facts have a liberal bias

January 24, 2008

Following up on an item from yesterday, the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism unveiled a rather devastating report/database yesterday, documenting over 900 false statements from the president and his team on Iraq in the buildup to the 2003 invasion. The study concluded that the statements “were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.”

Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary who now works with a right-wing activist group called Freedom’s Watch, was on Fox News last night, offering some election analysis. Alan Colmes broached the subject of the hour. (TP has the clip; my transcript via Nexis)

COLMES: Ari, today two non-profit groups came out with a report. They said there were 944 false statements — They mention —

FLEISCHER: I knew you were going to get to that.

COLMES: You’re very smart. This is the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism…. They say this is all part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized the public’s opinion and led to the war under decidedly false pretenses.

FLEISCHER: The only organized campaign I’m aware of is the one that this group is a part of, because you will notice they left out all of Bill Clinton’s quotes, Al Gore’s quotes, Tom Daschle’s quotes…. [The Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism are] only attacking Republicans for it. That’s the problem I have. We were wrong, Alan. We’ve always said that. But the Democrats were wrong. We were all wrong.

This is about what I’d expect Fleischer to say, but there are a few problems with the defense.

First, as Colmes responded, “You were the guys running the country.” If Dems were the ones feeding the country (and the world) a bunch of Iraq-related lies, I’m sure the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism would have far more of an incentive to make this bi-partisan.

Fleischer’s point actually touches on one of the Republicans’ favorite talking points from 2004 — Democrats in Congress saw the “same intelligence,” and they came to the same conclusions as Bush. This was a demonstrably ridiculous talking point at the time, and it hasn’t gotten any better since.

Second, to help highlight the limitless hackery of Sean Hannity, it’s worth noting that the other host of the Fox News show piped in: “Ari, I don’t think you were wrong. I’m sure those weapons were moved.” It’s a reminder of why Fox News viewers seem so woefully misinformed all the time.

And finally, Fleischer quickly changed the subject after Colmes brought this up. Given his record, I can’t say I blame him.

* “Were Saddam Hussein able to transfer any of the weapons of mass destruction–the chemical, the biological weapons, or the nuclear weapons that he seeks–to these organizations, it would be too late for the United States to do anything.” [9/4/02]

* “Unless Iraq proves that they destroyed them, where are they?” [1/21/03]

*”We know that there are operatives of Al Qaeda operating inside Baghdad.” [2/12/03]

I know you’re embarrassed, Ari, but the sooner you stop lying, the better we’ll all feel.

If Hannity’s right, why aren’t we rolling into Syria to secure the missing weapons? How incredibly irresponsible of the administration not to do everything in its power to find them. Maybe the administration can get some tips on hunting for the real evidence from OJ Simpson.

  • “I know you’re embarrassed, Ari, but the sooner you stop lying, the better we’ll all feel.”

    ARI: But… but… then I’d have nothing to say and I have to put food on my family, just like you and everyone else.

  • NHCt is soooo right 🙂 And SB, Ari can’t stop lying, he’s a Republican. And he has a quarter of a billion dollar war chest to use up this election cycle.

  • Ari will never stop lying. He thinks integrity is the name of a little sedan Acura used to sell in the 90’s.

    He’s a bald-faced liar, like all the Bushistas. They think they aren’t limited to truth – that’s the meaning of ‘unlimited power’ to them.

  • “I know you’re embarrassed, Ari, but the sooner you stop lying, the better we’ll all feel.”

    Actually, the sooner you leave from any position that touches upon public governance, the better well all feel. And the Dems, even if ‘lying,’ were not trying to lie the country into a war.

  • Re: Comment #6

    Did you ever open spam out of curiosity and then wondered why you had been so stupid?

    So it is with comment #6, a long screed about global warming and the German government, totally off-topic.

  • Fleischer was a chort then and he’ll stay an insignificant suckophant no matter how much money he has behind him.

  • I love how Ari and his lying bastard friends like to hide behind Bill Clinton’s skirt, and how retarded wingnuts are about the WMDs. “Saddam was a murderous bastard, but when we attacked him, he threw away the only weapons he had that might have been effective”

    WTF???

    And I hate how our “leadership” thinks that lying America into a quagmire isn’t grounds for investigation, much less prosecution or impeachment.

    Hey Reid and Pelosi: YOU @%$#& SUCK!

  • I think Bush knew more about it than the Democrats.

    If you have your henchmen go and cook up a bunch of fake or exaggerated intelligence, or a bunch of grainy pics that the intelligence guys don’t think indicate weapons (but you push as showing weapons anyway, or you get them to concede might be weapons, or you lean on them enough so they’ll lie and say they think they conclusively show weapons…), and then you look at that intelligence, and then you show it to the Dems, it’s not accurate to say you’ve “seen” the same intelligence. The politically loyal or sworn-to-secrecy people who work for you will keep in hush-hush that you were baking shit up. But to the Democrats and to the world, you’ve presented the intelligence as straight from unbiased intelligence sources.

    There is a lot that indicates that Bush cooked the intelligence here, and he and Cheney and all their friends certainly had the incentive to do so. It is totally unfair to say they and the Democrats saw the same intelligence and came to the same conclusions.

  • During the public build-up for the war Ari was asked about the fact that the arms inspectors had not found any WMD. Ari’s response, “That just proves that Sadam’s hiding them!” And he said it in a tone that indicated annoyance that the questioner couldn’t see the logical clarity of this “fact.”

  • What difference does it make? Nobody’s going to call the Republicans on their lies or the administration on its crimes. They’ve proven they can do anything they want and nobody will stop them. And they’re right. We see it every single day.

  • Artie, fartie, siill spewing the Bush BS about his criminal war on the Iraqi people. Around the world, billions of people knew back in 2002, that Saddam was no threat to Iraq’s neighbors: Syria, Iran, Turkey, Israel… Yet, somehow, Saddam was a threat to the pathetic weak-ego of Bush… Maybe it was partly that Saddam had roast antelope for breakfast, while George had Tinkies, Breakfast of Morons…

  • The only organized campaign I’m aware of…. because Lord knows none of your shit had any organization. The whole rethug party has been about unorganized insanity since bush took over.

    shithead.

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