Bush's Alternate Reality By Dan Froomkin / WaPo

[Demeter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/03/21/BL2008032101852.html


President Bush on Wednesday said something demonstrably false and inflammatory about Iran -- asserting that the Iranian government has "declared they want to have a nuclear weapon to destroy people."

The Iranians have never done any such thing -- and for Bush to say so at a time of great tension between the two countries is bizarre at best.

So why did he say it? Was he actively trying to misrepresent the situation? Was it just a slip of the tongue? Or does he believe it, despite the abundant evidence to the contrary?

It seems unlikely that Bush would choose this particular venue to launch a disinformation campaign: His comment came midway through a softball interview with an obscure U.S.-funded Farsi-language radio station, on the occasion of Persian new year. And the Iranian audience knows best that what he said is untrue. Such a blatant distortion only strengthens the Iranian government's position that Bush is a liar.

So did Bush just misspeak? The White House certainly suggested that yesterday, with a spokesman insisting that Bush had simply spoken in "shorthand," combining Iranian threats against Israel with concerns about Iran's nuclear program.

And yet, as disturbing as the third possibility is -- that Bush is operating in an alternate reality -- it's supported by this simple fact: He's said almost exactly the same thing at least once before.

[CJCRANE]

1. Shrub has been in an alternate reality for at least 7 years nt

[LynnTheDem]

2. George W. bUsh is a liar.

How deeply shocking not.

[Usrename]

3. I wish someone would ask him where he gets his information from.

"We don't torture."

Uh, Mr. President, who told you that? Seriously, where did you hear that?

[Demeter]

4. But The Administration Already Did

They are an empire, and can create their own reality.