Who was the brains behind the SOTU lie?

[Pobeka]

This is a multiple choice question, make your selection:

a) Karl Rove
b) All of the above.

Think about it.

The media should too. Everyone in the administration is now complicit in the cover-up, but Rove was probably the originator of the whole damn lie.

Wonder if any WH staff are willing to speak out on this one?

[I AM SPARTACUS]

1. there's a difference between "being the brains" and being the originator..

Brains...??? Bring 'Em On...

[Dudley_DUright]

2. I would put my money on Cheney

He was pushing the pre-war "Saddam has nukes" line more than anyone else in the maladministration.

[Pobeka]

3. Rove is the politiical strategist

You can't deny the timing of the thing, before the elections, putting the democrats in pretty much a no win situation right before the election (what with the conservative media and all).

Edit - typo

[karlschneider]

10. Cheney had the most to gain...anybody who thinks he severed all his

connections to Halliburton/KBR is...uh, a Coulter.
:D
(that was the worst insult I could think of at the moment. LOL)

[Pobeka]

14. Cheney had the most to gain for going to Iraq, but specifically

who thought of the "nuclear bomb" terrorist idea?

I think it was Rove. It got Cheney into Iraq, and it also got Rove the front page issue he needed right before the election to scare the public and make the dems appear useless.

It worked last fall splendidly. This is Rove's job, to understand political strategy.

[Outvoicer]

15. make the dems appear useless?

i agree about the using nuclear bomb issues to scare the public, but ...

the dems made themselves appear useless.

[Pobeka]

25. Just like Rove knew they would

-- sadly for the country, but Rove played a bluff, and it worked.

[Pobeka]

4. Does anyone think Rove should a "get out of jail free" card?

Seriously, if he was involved, I see no difference between him and the rest of the cabal. Particularly if he came up with the idea to slaughter innocent women and children for politial gain.

[gratuitous]

5. ABC News was fingering Crash Cart last night

Terry Moran was sitting in the Peter Jennings chair, and ran a report strongly intimating that it was Dick Cheney who was pushing the administration for military intervention. Of course, Bunnypants just does what he's told to do, so you could probably make a case for just about anybody being the "brains" behind the cabal, but Cheney makes sense because he stands to personally profit so handsomely from those no-cap, no-bid contracts Halliburton and its subsidiaries have been awarded.

[Pobeka]

6. No doubt Cheney's a huge beneficiary of the rotten deal

And I'm sure he jumped on the idea right away. But I still suggest the Rove is the one who first thought of it, as a political strategy to help "wag that dog".

I think the media needs to be investigating Rove too. His motives are far less than pure -- they down right stink.

[LizW]

12. Yep, my money's on Cheney

no pun intended. :eyes:

It is beyond me why there is not rampant, screaming outrage at the money trail that goes directly from the taxpayers' pockets to Cheney's via the Iraq war. It's so freaking obvious.

His apparent use of his Office to loot the U.S. Treasury for himself and his Haliburton cronies is breathtakingly corrupt. I shake my head in disbelief when I recall how the repugs were unrelenting in their pursuit of Hillary and Bill Clinton over their business dealings.

The hypocrisy of it all is unbelievable.

[Qutzupalotl]

7. Well, someone was PRETENDING to be the brains, anyway:

http://www.mwo1.com/ar071403.htm
PHOTOS SHOW BUSH REWRITING, REVISING SPEECH

OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PIX INCLUDE
CLOSE-UP OF BUSH "SKETCHING NOTES
IN MARGIN," "REWRITING" SOTU ADDRESS

BUSH SHOWN IN OVAL OFFICE "GIVING
SPEECHWRITING TEAM A FEW POINTS" AFTER
"REVISING THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS"

[Pobeka]

8. I'm not sure he has enough functioning grey matter

to even pretend. What between the cocaine, beer and pretzels his brain cells have been deprived of a lot of nutrition and oxygen...

[AlinPA]

9. Yes. Karl Rove. He is in charge of everything.

He sent (told Rumsfeld) the troops into Kuwait and sent the carriers while they were building the case. Remember, the rPIGS saying "with troops in harm's way, how can you object?" Powell, Rice and Rumsfeld report to Rove. I'm totally convinced. He hires and fires them.

[Pobeka]

13. And right now he seems immune from public scrutiny

Which is a real shame. If the public really knew what that guy comes up with, they'd be outraged.

[swinney]

11. STATEOF UNION SPEECH IS EDITED BIG TIME

AS A RULE EACH CABINET OFFICER READS IT AND PASSES ON IT.

BUT--THESE PEOPLE DO NOT GO BY "AS A RULE"

MOST ARROGANT CABINET IN HISTORY WILL BE THEIR JUDGEMENT.

STILL ANGRY BECAUSE OF NIXON BEING FORCED OUT AND DEFEAT OF VOODOO WIMPI.

[spanone]

16. The Evil Bastard Dick Cheney along with Perle & Wolfowitz

Bush probably sees it for the first time on the teleprompter

[Emillereid]

17. I think there was plenty of hubris behind the lie --

but no brains.

[fshrink]

18. It's so stupid and short-sighted that the Resident himself could have.

nt

[gulliver]

19. How long can Bush avoid answering that question?

That's my question. Will Bush ever have another real press conference? Is he going to be permitted to finish his stolen term without even one more real press conference?

[EAMcClure]

20. Bush has a few options

Bush either answers some questions with veracity. Something he has yet to do about anything, ever, period.

Or Bush can stonewall the media, which will get him fired.

Or Bush can endorse an investigation that isn't closed to the public, and stonewall the media, which won't get him fired, but will create a mess.

Or Bush can start lopping off heads and firing high level cabinet members, but that will point to his own culpability, and those cabinet members aren't likely to fall on their sword quietly. They are all too stupid to keep their mouths shut, especially Cheney, Rummy, Perle, and Wolfowitz.

As far as who is responsible for the lie: The whol administration had their finger in the pie.

[FreedomReload]

21. We should chop off all their fingers

They all signed off on it, so does it really matter who originated it or who is the brains behind it? Considering how secretive they are, I don't think we will ever really know all the facts.

[Pobeka]

22. Some investigative reporter should check up on Rove

It's about time, don't you think? How many people was/is he willing to sacrifice -- LITERALLY, for a "political win"?

I'm sick and tired of these "spin doctors" coming up with the plan, but not being held criminally responsible when crimes are committed as a direct result of their plan.

[ferg]

23. Bush.

To hell with this "Bush is too stupid to take responsibility."

It's the damn SOTU address. It's one of the President's responsibilities explicitly in the Constitution.

It's Bush's responsibility even if his Nagzul want to take the blame for it.

I don't care if Condi came up with the exact weasel wording for the "British learned". Bush was behind the lie. Bush pushed for it. Bush approved of the speech. Bush lied in front of Congress, the United States, and the world.

[Pobeka]

24. Bush is an idiot, Rove knows better

Bush did not deserve to be president precisely because he is an idiot, and religiously insane to boot. It was his idiocy (sp?) that allowed Rove to tell him what do to (Bush couldn't decide to pee unless someone else told him it was time).

But Rove, Rove has no excuse. Surely that makes him as culpable, if not more so, than Bush, because he was knowingly immoral.