{"id":10399,"date":"2007-04-03T14:06:27","date_gmt":"2007-04-03T18:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/10399.html"},"modified":"2007-04-03T14:06:27","modified_gmt":"2007-04-03T18:06:27","slug":"fact-checking-the-man-for-whom-facts-have-no-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/fact-checking-the-man-for-whom-facts-have-no-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact-checking the man for whom facts have no meaning"},"content":{"rendered":"

I realize there’s very little utility in fact-checking the president’s press conferences. Bush has only a passing familiarity with the truth, and rarely has his facts straight, so Q&As with reporters, such as the one held this morning<\/a> on the White House south lawn, are inevitably exercises in frustration.<\/p>\n

And yet, I’m a glutton for punishment. A few observations from my notes….<\/p>\n

* In a relatively brief press conference, Bush mentioned the September 11 attacks five times. I guess he’s getting desperate.<\/p>\n

* Early on, Bush said, “In a time of war, it’s irresponsible for the Democrat leadership — Democratic leadership in Congress to delay for months on end while our troops in combat are waiting for the funds.” My standards are so low, I was genuinely impressed he corrected himself and used the grammatically correct “Democratic leadership.” Way to go, Mr. President.<\/p>\n

* In response to a question about Speaker Pelosi’s trip to Syria, Bush said, “We have made it clear to high-ranking officials, whether they be Republicans or Democrats, that going to Syria sends mixed signals — signals in the region and, of course, mixed signals to President Assad.” Then why is it the White House only tries to score cheap points off Pelosi’s trip? Funny how Republican trips to Syria draw no public rebuke at all.<\/p>\n

* Bush insisted that failure in Iraq would lead those who “can’t stand America [to] find new ways to recruit.” He neglected to mention that the ongoing war is already providing them<\/a> with new ways to recruit. <\/p>\n

* The president noted, “Members of Congress are entitled to their views and should express them.” How gracious of him. He left out the part about how they’re supposed to forgo their views if they conflict with his opinions.<\/p>\n

* Bush was outraged by the notion that lawmakers are “substituting” their judgment for that of “commanders on the ground.” But here’s the rub: Bush already substituted his<\/i> judgment for commanders’ judgment. As Josh Marshall put it<\/a>, “Remember, they didn’t think the surge was a good idea. So what happened? He fired<\/i> them. That’s why Gen. Petraeus is there. The president looked around until he could find a general willing to agree with him. And when he did he put him in charge.”
\n
\n* At one point, Bush said, “[T]he solution to Iraq, an Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself, is more than a military mission — precisely the reason why I sent more troops into Baghdad.” He’s using the military because the solution involves more than the military? This doesn’t make any sense.<\/p>\n

* With a degree of indignation, the president said, “It has now been 57 days since I requested that Congress pass emergency funds for our troops.” Sounds like a long time, right? Except, as Faiz noted<\/a>, last year’s supplemental took twice as long<\/i>, when it was a Republican Congress. He wasn’t whining about it then.<\/p>\n

* The president only received one question about the prosecutor purge scandal, when a reporter noted that U.S. Attorneys were evaluated on the basis of loyalty. The reporter asked, “What role should loyalty to you play in the evaluation of those charged with administering justice and enforcing the law?” Bush wouldn’t answer the question, instead saying three times that he had the right to remove them.<\/p>\n

I’m glad the president hosts these occasional press conferences — they’re fascinating to watch — but I’m often left wondering why he even bothers. He doesn’t answer questions, he doesn’t tell the truth, and he generally comes across as clueless.<\/p>\n

Better luck next time, Mr. President.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I realize there’s very little utility in fact-checking the president’s press conferences. Bush has only a passing familiarity with the truth, and rarely has his facts straight, so Q&As with reporters, such as the one held this morning on the White House south lawn, are inevitably exercises in frustration. And yet, I’m a glutton for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}