_Did you See Bush Flame out?

[Moderator]

Bush was on live TV when that old lady asked him why he really went to War and Bush went off on her! Anyone see Bush's MeltDown?

[Vashner]

When? ... I want to see it.. sigh..

I been waiting for him to rant and rip the dim's a new one for being pussies.

[Oh, Gee!!]

When? ... I want to see it.. sigh..

I been waiting for him to rant and rip the dim's a new one for being pussies.


and for playing with dolls and crying like a baby for a bottle, right?

[boutons_]

dubya's problem are not caused by Dem's or liberals or war dissenters.

dubya's pile of shit is exclusively of his/Repug own making.

typical to blame the Dems after the Repugs have been running the show single-handedly for 6 years.

You dubya suckers take your medicine like men, and quit wimping out blaming everybody else for you very own shit. You elected these motherfuckers, and the motherfuckers motherfucked up big time. eat your own shit, you made it.

[Ocotillo]

Cheney as popular as a turd in a punch bowl (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/nyregion/21kean.html?ex=1300597200&en=72c3e6ffe870171a&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss)

Not just Dems. Seems T. Kean Jr. who is running for Senate in Jersey is happy to take Darth Cheney's money but knows it's a kiss of death to be caught in the same photo with him.

[boutons_]

If they Old Lady really asked him his REAL reasons for going to the war, he will never say that (he doesn't know).

But History will tell.

dubya went to war because Uncle dickhead/rummy/wolfowitz/etc TOLD dubya to start a war, and their reasons were NOT the bullshit reasons we were given.

[DarkReign]

"I'm sorry he's not here right now," Mr. Cheney said, referring to the younger Mr. Kean. "But I do some of my best work without a candidate."
-Dick Cheney

Even Cheney is crackin on the President. This administration is the source of much comedy. Do they even know it?

:lmao :lmao :lmao

[Crookshanks]

Flame Out? I didn't see the press conference, but I listened to it in its entirety and there was no "flame out." The person who asked the question was the idiot Helen Thomas and she did it for no other reason than to provoke the President and try to make him look bad.

He answered her question forthrightly; however, he did get a little testy when she tried to interrupt him before he had a chance to answer the question.

It was a great press conference and I thought the President did a great job, especially considering some of the inane questions that were asked.

"Flame out" - you wish!!

[boutons_]

"to provoke the President and try to make him look bad."

I guess you'd rather dubya give one of his scripted p/c's to a muzzled/rehearsed/docile dubya-suckers.

dubya wouldn't last 2 minutes in an real debate like PMs must face in UK parliament.

[Crookshanks]

Here's the transcript of the exchange between President Bush and Helen Thomas - now you can draw your own conclusions.


BUSH TAKES ON PRESS AND HELEN THOMAS TOO
Tue Mar 21, 2006 13:34:11 2006

Helen Thomas, who in January grumbled that President Bush was a "coward" for not calling on her at a press conference, today was granted a question for the first time in several years. The doyenne of the White House press corps, who once called Bush the worst president in U.S. history, seized her chance with gusto, essentially debating Bush instead of questioning him. Here's the transcript:

THE PRESIDENT: Helen.Ê After that brilliant performance at the Grid Iron, I am -- (laughter.)

Q: You're going to be sorry.Ê (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: Well, then, let me take it back.Ê (Laughter.)

Q: I'd like to ask you, Mr. President, your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime.Ê Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true.Ê My question is, why did you really want to go to war?Ê From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet -- your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth -- what was your real reason?Ê You have said it wasn't oil -- quest for oil, it hasn't been Israel, or anything else.Ê What was it?

THE PRESIDENT: I think your premise -- in all due respect to your question and to you as a lifelong journalist -- is thatÊ -- I didn't want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect --

Q: Everything --

THE PRESIDENT: Hold on for a second, please.

Q: -- everything I've heard --

THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me, excuse me. No President wants war. Everything you may have heard is that, but it's just simply not true. My attitude about the defense of this country changed on September the 11th. We -- when we got attacked, I vowed then and there to use every asset at my disposal to protect the American people. Our foreign policy changed on that day, Helen. You know, we used to think we were secure because of oceans and previous diplomacy. But we realized on September the 11th, 2001, that killers could destroy innocent life. And I'm never going to forget it. And I'm never going to forget the vow I made to the American people that we will do everything in our power to protect our people.

Part of that meant to make sure that we didn't allow people to provide safe haven to an enemy. And that's why I went into Iraq -- hold on for a second --

Q: They didn't do anything to you, or to our country.

THE PRESIDENT: Look -- excuse me for a second, please. Excuse me for a second. They did. The Taliban provided safe haven for al Qaeda. That's where al Qaeda trained --

Q: I'm talking about Iraq --

THE PRESIDENT: Helen, excuse me. That's where -- Afghanistan provided safe haven for al Qaeda. That's where they trained. That's where they plotted. That's where they planned the attacks that killed thousands of innocent Americans.

I also saw a threat in Iraq. I was hoping to solve this problem diplomatically. That's why I went to the Security Council; that's why it was important to pass 1441, which was unanimously passed. And the world said, disarm, disclose, or face serious consequences --

Q: -- go to war --

THE PRESIDENT: -- and therefore, we worked with the world, we worked to make sure that Saddam Hussein heard the message of the world. And when he chose to deny inspectors, when he chose not to disclose, then I had the difficult decision to make to remove him. And we did, and the world is safer for it.

Q: Thank you, sir. Secretary Rumsfeld -- (laughter.)

Q: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: You're welcome. (Laughter.) I didn't really regret it. I kind of semi-regretted it. (Laughter.)

Q: -- have a debate.

THE PRESIDENT: That's right. Anyway, your performance at the Grid Iron was just brilliant -- unlike Holland's, was a little weak, but -- (laughter.)

[xrayzebra]

Bush was on live TV when that old lady asked him why he really went to War and Bush went off on her! Anyone see Bush's MeltDown?

I saw him put the Dumbass old liberal in her place. In short he told her
to shut up and he would answer her question. He was great.

[boutons_]

dubya/dickhead/rummy/wolfowitz/Repugs/conservatives ABSOLUTELY wanted the Iraq war of choice. There was no urgency, no justification, no threat, no Saddam guilt for WTC or WMD, and now we all see, no increase in US security.

dubya absolutely LIES again.

[Crookshanks]

No increase in US security? There hasn't been a SINGLE attack on US soil since 9/11.

BTW - don't you get tired of writing all those negative words describing the conservatives EVERY time you post? I know it gets tiring reading them - we all know how you feel - spare us the drama every time!

[boutons_]

"SINGLE attack on US soil since 9/11."

and you say that absence of attack US was caused by the Repbu Iraq war? GMAFB

As long as US and Iraqis are dying needlessly for the Repug re-election war, you'll get an earload from me. I guess you are never tired of having all those dead and maimed bodies reminding you of how wrong the Repugs were about Iraq?

[Hustle & Flow]

Flame Out? I didn't see the press conference, but I listened to it in its entirety and there was no "flame out."

Trust me when you see the evening news you will see Bush's eyebrow hair shoot in all directions, He even picked up his hand and in a Karate Chop fashion he told that poor old lady who has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel to hold on a few times. he would not let her retort. Even the old man on CBS said it was the most passion he has seen from any president.

And Bush got it from a few other reporters also.

The old man from CBS said after the press meeting, this was one of the very rare times Bush did not screen the questions. Now I know why he always looked like he had all the answers before.
Bush looked like he wanted to choke the old bat, You could tell he was thinking if only she could go Hunting with Dick Cheny. Bush was like a wannabe comic dying on stage, he was studdering and had a loss for words. I almost got sexualy aroused watching this 107 year old lady lay down the smack bat on his asshat!

I know Michale More must of came in his sock more than once. This will be on his next movie for sure, This press confrence was a disaster for the Republicans.





"Flame out" - you wish!!

Not really ! This man is still in charge of our country. To be honest? I was Embarassed to be an American for a breif moment and that rarely happens
I wish I could have my Vote back!

[DarkReign]

I read the transcript. I dont think GWB responded "out of line". She has never been called on to ask a question, when she got her chance, he answered the best way he could.

Look, Im no Bush lover (by any stratch of your imagination), but be damned if he isnt the President of the United States. When he speaks, you should at least listen, THEN retort. Interrupting him is selfish, disrespectful and rude. It smacks onlookers as the questionaire is seeking a different answer.

And heres a tip for that journalist...Concise questions beg concise answers. When your question is a paragraph long, the answer will at least be twice that.

I dont see the big deal. I wouldnt shake his hand, but he is the god damn President. He answers to the people, not the Press. Especially press with alterior motives.

[Spurminator]

Even though the questions weren't screened, I think Bush had every intention of answering a Helen Thomas question today and I think he knew exactly what she was going to ask. Not because she was in on any conspiracy with him, but because her question (rant) was as predictable as the next boutons post.

He's losing support in the country and needs a good battle to get people back on his side. What better way than a headline-grabbing verbal match with a partisan nutjob who, in her old age, is probably not even HIS equal in coherant verbal communication ability? Forces people to choose sides, again.

[Boomhauer]

Same quetion different forum check out the replies

http://www.theoneboard.com/board/viewtopic.php?p=266506#266506

[Ocotillo]

He answers to the people, not the Press.

Actually he doesn't answer to them either.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

I read the transcript. I dont think GWB responded "out of line". She has never been called on to ask a question, when she got her chance, he answered the best way he could.

No, she just hadn't been called on in a few years.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

BTW, to anyone who actually saw this

Pretty funny stuff, huh? they've only been talking about it all fucking day.

Helen Thomas totally owned bush. He faltered once, twice, and tried to redirect the conversation his way.

Helen even said tonight on The Situation Room that he "still did not answer the question directly, how iraq is linked to 9-11"

Of course, the conservers in the house will think he did, when in fact, he didnt.

Now now, on Scarborough Country, Joe Scarborough is seriously criticizing Helen Thomas. He's saying that she badgered the president. What the fuck? Even 3/4 of his guests are saying she was in line and its a question most americans want directly answered. Scarborough keeps saying he thinks she was badgering him and it was like a scene out of crossfire.

:lmao

How dare you ask a pertinent question in a press conference with the president!! This is america, land of the missing blonde blue eyed beauties, we need safety, the land where we all want our kids to be safe, go bush!

[A-Train]

Helen Thomas is the crazy great aunt every family has, the one who should've been institutionalized a few decades back. I'm no particular fan of GWB, but I would've enjoyed it if he had simply ignored her.

[Gerryatrics]

I'd like to ask you, Mr. President, your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is, why did you really want to go to war? From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet -- your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth -- what was your real reason? You have said it wasn't oil -- quest for oil, it hasn't been Israel, or anything else. What was it?

Helen Thomas is fair and balanced.

I'm surprised she didn't ask President Bush why he doesn't care about black people.

[mouse]

Helen Thomas is fair and balanced.

I'm surprised she didn't ask President Bush why he doesn't care about
black people.


He won't understand what Black means , Bush still calls them colored folks besides , Bush will just do a Jiggy Boo dance and not answer the question anyway

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?channel=politics

[gtownspur]

BTW, to anyone who actually saw this

Pretty funny stuff, huh? they've only been talking about it all fucking day.

Helen Thomas totally owned bush. He faltered once, twice, and tried to redirect the conversation his way.

Helen even said tonight on The Situation Room that he "still did not answer the question directly, how iraq is linked to 9-11"

Of course, the conservers in the house will think he did, when in fact, he didnt.

Now now, on Scarborough Country, Joe Scarborough is seriously criticizing Helen Thomas. He's saying that she badgered the president. What the fuck? Even 3/4 of his guests are saying she was in line and its a question most americans want directly answered. Scarborough keeps saying he thinks she was badgering him and it was like a scene out of crossfire.

:lmao

How dare you ask a pertinent question in a press conference with the president!! This is america, land of the missing blonde blue eyed beauties, we need safety, the land where we all want our kids to be safe, go bush!


^Guys you are witnessing the orgasmic glee of a closet liberal to chicken to admit it, while hiding under his "independent" "moderate" bullshit.

[Gerryatrics]

The Shrub was handed a golden opportunity this morning to level with the American People about his real reasons for attacking Iraq, reasons that Helen Thomas would be more than happy to explain to him if he’d just open his ears and listen. Instead, he used the solemn third anniversary of his illegal and immoral quagmire to exude an unrealistic confidence in our military and its mission, while insulting a beloved American icon in the process.

Helen Thomas, the Great Dane of the Washington press corps, has been the voice of honest journalism for over 175 years, and a thorn in side of both Batman and Commissioner Gordon. Her tough, take-no-prisoners style of questioning has often been mistaken for thinly disguised partisan attacks with question marks at the end of them, but she has inspired generations of progressive journalists with her dauntless courage in the face of a fascist administration, and the throes of a crippling mental illness. Since she was diagnosed with severe senile dementia in 1971, she has been unafraid to broach the questions more rational and sane reporters wouldn’t dare to. It’s a miracle she can even remember who she is, let alone find her way to the White House for one of Bush’s Lie Sessions, and she deserves his respect. If the Shrub won’t confess his crimes against humanity, bring our troops home from Iraq, legalize marijuana and step down for the good of America, then he should at least do it for her.


http://blamebush.typepad.com/blamebush/2006/03/bush_declares_w.html

[Smackie Chan]

BTW, to anyone who actually saw this

Pretty funny stuff, huh? they've only been talking about it all fucking day.

Helen Thomas totally owned bush. He faltered once, twice, and tried to redirect the conversation his way.

Helen even said tonight on The Situation Room that he "still did not answer the question directly, how iraq is linked to 9-11"

Of course, the conservers in the house will think he did, when in fact, he didnt.

Now now, on Scarborough Country, Joe Scarborough is seriously criticizing Helen Thomas. He's saying that she badgered the president. What the fuck? Even 3/4 of his guests are saying she was in line and its a question most americans want directly answered. Scarborough keeps saying he thinks she was badgering him and it was like a scene out of crossfire.

:lmao

How dare you ask a pertinent question in a press conference with the president!! This is america, land of the missing blonde blue eyed beauties, we need safety, the land where we all want our kids to be safe, go bush!


RACK! :smokin

[aaronstampler]

The thing most Repugs don't get when they hoot and holler that at least Bush is taking some action on 9-11 and that Dems are too soft to do anything is that the only reason there even WAS a 9-11 was because of Bush's incompetence.

If he actually did his job prior to the attacks, they would have most likely been prevented. The reports were there for him to read, and he was too lazy to, since he was too busy doing important stuff like biking and clearing brush.

But really, go ahead Repugs and keep telling us how tough and decisive Bush is. I'm sure it's just a gigantic frickin' coincedence the attack happened on his ever-so-vigilant watch.

All 9-11 and the Iraq war accomplished was the thing Bush cares the most about, making him and his friends a boatload of money. He doesn't care if people are poor or dead anyway, because all it'll mean is they'll go the kingdom of heaven sooner and meet Jesus. So really, he's doing everyone a big favor.

[JohnnyMarzetti]

No increase in US security? There hasn't been a SINGLE attack on US soil since 9/11.

BTW - don't you get tired of writing all those negative words describing the conservatives EVERY time you post? I know it gets tiring reading them - we all know how you feel - spare us the drama every time!

You freakin' neocons act like there was a terrorist attack every day on US soil before dumbnuts became president. I guarantee another attack will happen on US soil. Damn you are stupid.

[Crookshanks]

You freakin' neocons act like there was a terrorist attack every day on US soil before dumbnuts became president. I guarantee another attack will happen on US soil.

And none of us know how many attacks have been thwarted because of the President's efforts to keep us safe. IF another attack happens, it won't be because the President didn't do everything in his power to keep us safe.

I shudder to think what would've happened if we had President Gore in the White House!

[Phil E.Buster]

We wouldn't be in this mess we call Iraq? And if you don't think terrorists threats were thwarted during prior administrations you are really following the blind.

[101A]

I shudder to think what would've happened if we had President Gore in the White House!

Gore? (or Kerry for that matter)?

Either would have licked there index finger, stuck it in the air, measured the direction of the political winds, AND DONE THAT.

Next day, they would have done the same thing.

Want proof - just look at most Democrats' positions on Iraq 3 years ago versus now.

They do what is politically expedient. Dangerous attitude in a democracy with so many illiterate, uniformed citizens.

[JohnnyMarzetti]

Gore? (or Kerry for that matter)?

Either would have licked there index finger, stuck it in the air, measured the direction of the political winds, AND DONE THAT.

Next day, they would have done the same thing.

Want proof - just look at most Democrats' positions on Iraq 3 years ago versus now.

They do what is politically expedient. Dangerous attitude in a democracy with so many illiterate, uniformed citizens.

republicans just stick their heads up Dumbya's ass.

[101A]

republicans just stick their heads up Dumbya's ass.
:rolleyes

[Hook Dem]

republicans just stick their heads up Dumbya's ass.
Must suck to be you! Like him or not, Bush has served a purpose such as chapping your ass for eight years! :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol FOOL!!!!

[JoePublic]

I admit I'm not too crazy about Bush these days and I voted for him.

[xrayzebra]

We wouldn't be in this mess we call Iraq? And if you don't think terrorists threats were thwarted during prior administrations you are really following the blind.

Oh you mean like the first bombing of the WTC and the barracks in
Saudi Arabia and the Embassies. Oh, yeah, they really did thwart those
attacks didn't they. You speak out of the lower portion of your body.

[RobinsontoDuncan]

And the man who tried to smuggle plutonium across the border to denoate in LA that was stopped while Clinton was in office, he doesn't count Xray?

So Xray, terrorism was invented on September 11, 2001? Maybe you ought to get you head out of your ass.....

[Spurminator]

This thread epitomizes why the White House planned to take a question from Helen Thomas.

Pawns, the lot of you.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

You freakin' neocons act like there was a terrorist attack every day on US soil before dumbnuts became president. I guarantee another attack will happen on US soil. Damn you are stupid.


Just to counter-point, during this Q and A session, Bush made a point to say that pre-9-11, Americans felt safer and more secure.

Makes you wonder. Safer and more secure than what? Now? If that's the case, then how has the war made us safer and more secure?

[Cant_Be_Faded]

This thread epitomizes why the White House planned to take a question from Helen Thomas.

Pawns, the lot of you.


Well considering that any decent-minded person was asking the question helen thomas asked like ummm 2 years ago, and considering we're just discussing a situation on an internet board, yeah, i feel so so manipulated.

[Oh, Gee!!]

This thread epitomizes why the White House planned to take a question from Helen Thomas.

Pawns, the lot of you.

Because they knew we would discuss it on SpursTalk? Quite a risk for a small reward, no?

[Crookshanks]

I think it means that, pre-911, America, as a whole, felt immune from a major terrorist attack. 911 showed us that we are just as vulnerable as other nations.

People feel less secure as a result - and many people see the war as a necessary means to insure that we are less vulnerable.

[boutons_]

The Repug Iraq war has inflamed anti-American sentiment world-wide, has been a huge recruitment tool for al Quaida, has radicalized many moderate Muslims, increased murderous sectarian violence in Iraq, and has increased US security not one bit, not to mention the 2000+ US lives wasted, and 10's of 1000s of innocent Iraqi lives wasted.

"You're doing a heckuva job, shrubbie"

[Spurminator]

Because they knew we would discuss it on SpursTalk? Quite a risk for a small reward, no?

"Epitomizes", or "is an example of".

Politicians love partisan gamesmanship.

[DarkReign]

People feel less secure as a result - and many people see the war as a necessary means to insure that we are less vulnerable.

Riiiiiiiight, because I can speak confidantly for the masses when I say that without a doubt, we ALL sleep better knowing Sadaam Hussein isnt in power any longer.

yet Osama still roams

[Spurminator]

What i'm trying to say is that this little verbal sparring between two polarizing figures was meant to turn the discussion of Iraq back into the same argument that was being had years ago, including during the time Republicans and Bush were winning elections.

While some people may have changed their view of that initial justification in the last year and a half, most of the growing dissent against Bush has occurred as a result of RECENT developments at home and in Iraq.

[jochhejaam]

This thread epitomizes why the White House planned to take a question from Helen Thomas.

Pawns, the lot of you.
Absolutely, it was orchestrated right down to your labeling the posters pawns. (don't deny it).

Reminiscent of the Michael Douglas movie "The Game".

[mouse]

you could tell Bush was lying when he said he didn't plan to go after Saddam. everyone and thier mothers new when Bush got in office he was going to finish the job his father started.
Funny how Bush SR makes sure he is not around to answer any questions. I would love to see him and Helen go at it, It's a Damm shame Bush had to bully that old lady why not let her speak? that was real tacky of him.

[Hook Dem]

you could tell Bush was lying when he said he didn't plan to go after Saddam. everyone and thier mothers new when Bush got in office he was going to finish the job his father started.
Funny how Bush SR makes sure he is not around to answer any questions. I would love to see him and Helen go at it, It's a Damm shame Bush had to bully that old lady why not let her speak? that was real tacky of him.
Be careful of who you are calling a lady! :lol

[gtownspur]

you could tell Bush was lying when he said he didn't plan to go after Saddam. everyone and thier mothers new when Bush got in office he was going to finish the job his father started.
Funny how Bush SR makes sure he is not around to answer any questions. I would love to see him and Helen go at it, It's a Damm shame Bush had to bully that old lady why not let her speak? that was real tacky of him.

I guess that's all you can really nitpick about since you couldnt do it on the issues.

You're so naive, if the reporter asked a paragraph long question, then the president will respond with a paragraph long awnser. Bush didnt interrupt her dumbass, read the transcript, he was speaking and she was interrupting him.

[Dude]

Be careful of who you are calling a lady! :lol

:lmao

[boutons_]

dubya entertaining the troops telling them war stories about him verbally fighting old women.


http://www.creators.com/0319/LK/LK0323g.gif

[Crookshanks]

Right invasion, wrong explanation
Mar 24, 2006
by Jonah Goldberg

The best moment of political theater at the president's news conference this week came when that thespian carbuncle of bile, Helen Thomas, hung a question mark at the end of a diatribe. :blah The "dean" of the White House press corps all but called President Bush a lying warmonger who invaded Iraq for no legitimate reason.

Thomas lost the exchange, but the sad truth is that her side has won the larger argument. Ever since the controversy over the "16 words" in Bush's 2003 State of the Union address - in which the president alleged that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa - the administration has been gun-shy about defending its original decision to invade. That's understandable, given the consequences of that episode: Not only did it make the White House seem inept, it made former U.S. Ambassador Joe Wilson and his very important hair a permanent fixture of the media firmament.

It is now simply taken as a given inside this White House that having an argument about why we invaded Iraq is a political loser. So the president prefers to talk democracy, not WMD.

This might explain why the administration has been so blasé about declassifying about 50,000 boxes of captured Iraqi documents. We don't know what's in many of these boxes. But what has been released so far has been, at minimum, tantalizing, pointing to and illuminating ties between Hussein's regime and al-Qaida as well as other terrorist organizations, including Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines.

There are no smoking guns so far. And we probably won't find an Iraqi equivalent of the Zimmerman telegram - which exposed Germany's hostile intent before World War I - languishing in some government warehouse, like the Ark of the Covenant at the end of the first "Indiana Jones" movie.

But what these documents - as well as other after-action intelligence gathering - demonstrate is that given what he knew at the time, George W. Bush was right to invade Iraq. We now know that the CIA bureaucracy was simply wrong to insist that "secular" Iraq would never work with Islamist terrorist groups such as al-Qaida and Abu Sayyaf. We know that Iraq harbored and very likely supported Abdul Rahman Yasin, one of the suspected bomb makers involved in the first World Trade Center attack in 1993.

According to the Pentagon's definitive postmortem on the invasion, some of which was leaked to the New York Times, even many Iraqi generals were stunned to discover that Hussein didn't have WMD. Hussein practiced a strategy that one Republican Guard commander called "deterrence by doubt," in which he hoped to bluff the world into believing he had WMD in order to deter Iran and keep his rep as an Arab strongman with serious mojo.

And that's the point Thomas et al don't want to understand. For reasons that still baffle me, the WMD threat - never the sole reason to invade Iraq - not only became the only argument, it became a thoroughly legalistic one, as if foreign policy has rules of evidence and procedural due process. After 9/11, that kind of foreign policy by lawyers looked ridiculous, and rightly so.

The fact that Hussein turned out to be bluffing about WMD isn't a mark against Bush's decision. If you're a cop and a man pulls out a gun and points it at you, you're within your rights to shoot him, particularly if the man in question is a known criminal who's shot people before. If it turns out afterward that the gun wasn't loaded, that's not the cop's fault.

Hussein had a 30-year track record of pursuing WMD. He dealt with Islamic terrorists. The sanctions regime fell apart thanks to Iraqi bribery and 30 years of spineless U.N. accommodation.

In the 1990s, Hussein tried to kill a former U.S. president and tried to shoot down British and American planes enforcing the "no-fly" zone. The Clinton administration - not the George W. Bush administration - established "regime change" as our policy toward Iraq. In the years that followed, the Iraqi regime openly celebrated the 9/11 attack. And when we tried to get Hussein to come clean about a weapons program that we (and his own generals!) had every reason to believe existed, he played games. After 9/11, calling that bluff wasn't a "choice," it was an obligation.

One reason Bush is down in the polls is that he's giving the impression that he's trying to change the subject from "our mistaken invasion" to "building democracy in Iraq." Building democracy in Iraq is vital - and entirely consistent with the highest aspirations of liberal foreign policy. But he would serve himself and the county better if he simply explained that he's been right all along. Swatting Helen Thomas is a start, but it will take a lot more.

Jonah Goldberg is editor-at-large of National Review Online.

[cheguevara]

Helen Thomas? this lady got more balls than Bush will ever dream of.

The president hasn't pronouced the WMD letters in a while. I wonder why?

[boutons_]

"called President Bush a lying warmonger who invaded Iraq for no legitimate reason. "

... is exactly what he is, and exactly what he did.

The Iraq "war" stunk like a pig farm before the invasion, and has gotten worse after.

Goldberg's silly analogy of a gun shows how dubya-sucking he is. Saddam didn't have the bullets (WMD) and didn't have a gun (means of delivering WMD to USA), but he said he did, so dubya/dickhead "say" they believed him.

It's very clear now, and history will demonstrate more clearly later that Repugs/conservatives truly wanted this war no matter what. All dozens of "reasons" were perfect bullshit.

[LakerHater0823]

Here's the transcript of the exchange between President Bush and Helen Thomas - now you can draw your own conclusions.


BUSH TAKES ON PRESS AND HELEN THOMAS TOO
Tue Mar 21, 2006 13:34:11 2006

Helen Thomas, who in January grumbled that President Bush was a "coward" for not calling on her at a press conference, today was granted a question for the first time in several years. The doyenne of the White House press corps, who once called Bush the worst president in U.S. history, seized her chance with gusto, essentially debating Bush instead of questioning him. Here's the transcript:

THE PRESIDENT: Helen.Ê After that brilliant performance at the Grid Iron, I am -- (laughter.)

Q: You're going to be sorry.Ê (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: Well, then, let me take it back.Ê (Laughter.)

Q: I'd like to ask you, Mr. President, your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime.Ê Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true.Ê My question is, why did you really want to go to war?Ê From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet -- your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth -- what was your real reason?Ê You have said it wasn't oil -- quest for oil, it hasn't been Israel, or anything else.Ê What was it?

THE PRESIDENT: I think your premise -- in all due respect to your question and to you as a lifelong journalist -- is thatÊ -- I didn't want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect --

Q: Everything --

THE PRESIDENT: Hold on for a second, please.

Q: -- everything I've heard --

THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me, excuse me. No President wants war. Everything you may have heard is that, but it's just simply not true. My attitude about the defense of this country changed on September the 11th. We -- when we got attacked, I vowed then and there to use every asset at my disposal to protect the American people. Our foreign policy changed on that day, Helen. You know, we used to think we were secure because of oceans and previous diplomacy. But we realized on September the 11th, 2001, that killers could destroy innocent life. And I'm never going to forget it. And I'm never going to forget the vow I made to the American people that we will do everything in our power to protect our people.

Part of that meant to make sure that we didn't allow people to provide safe haven to an enemy. And that's why I went into Iraq -- hold on for a second --

Q: They didn't do anything to you, or to our country.

THE PRESIDENT: Look -- excuse me for a second, please. Excuse me for a second. They did. The Taliban provided safe haven for al Qaeda. That's where al Qaeda trained --

Q: I'm talking about Iraq --

THE PRESIDENT: Helen, excuse me. That's where -- Afghanistan provided safe haven for al Qaeda. That's where they trained. That's where they plotted. That's where they planned the attacks that killed thousands of innocent Americans.

I also saw a threat in Iraq. I was hoping to solve this problem diplomatically. That's why I went to the Security Council; that's why it was important to pass 1441, which was unanimously passed. And the world said, disarm, disclose, or face serious consequences --

Q: -- go to war --

THE PRESIDENT: -- and therefore, we worked with the world, we worked to make sure that Saddam Hussein heard the message of the world. And when he chose to deny inspectors, when he chose not to disclose, then I had the difficult decision to make to remove him. And we did, and the world is safer for it.

Q: Thank you, sir. Secretary Rumsfeld -- (laughter.)

Q: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: You're welcome. (Laughter.) I didn't really regret it. I kind of semi-regretted it. (Laughter.)

Q: -- have a debate.

THE PRESIDENT: That's right. Anyway, your performance at the Grid Iron was just brilliant -- unlike Holland's, was a little weak, but -- (laughter.)


You know if he really wanted to end things diplomatically then he would have waited for the UN and the rest of the world to support us. Whether you agree or not we need the rest of the world to help us.

[LakerHater0823]

And none of us know how many attacks have been thwarted because of the President's efforts to keep us safe. IF another attack happens, it won't be because the President didn't do everything in his power to keep us safe.

I shudder to think what would've happened if we had President Gore in the White House!


Dude! If the president had more than a handful BELIEVE me we would know about it. He would use it as his scare tactic to ensure UAE gets a port deal or somethin like that, ya know.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Right invasion, wrong explanation
Mar 24, 2006
by Jonah Goldberg

And that's the point Thomas et al don't want to understand. For reasons that still baffle me, the WMD threat - never the sole reason to invade Iraq - not only became the only argument, it became a thoroughly legalistic one, as if foreign policy has rules of evidence and procedural due process. After 9/11, that kind of foreign policy by lawyers looked ridiculous, and rightly so.

"never the sole reason to invade iraq" ??


Do you even read the shit you post?

[scott]

What is Bush's Ruth factor?

[Nbadan]

http://img.thehill.com/img/news/033006/helen.thomas.jpeg


At the Hearst Newspapers Bureau, Helen Thomas is surrounded by roses sent to her by well wishers who enjoyed her recent exchange with President Bush in the White House Briefing Room.
Photo by Sara Henderson