Department of Poorly Coordinated and Unbelievable Cover Stories (anatomy of Bush's lies)

[ProSense]

Department of Poorly Coordinated and Unbelievable Cover Stories

BY Scott Horton
PUBLISHED December 5, 2007

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(Video)

In the seven years of the Bush presidency, I have catalogued three different varieties of Bush prevarications. First, there is the statesman-like lie, told by Bush when he is uttering a lie which he firmly believes must be uttered in the interests of the Greater Good. (The Greater Good means the national security interest of the United States. Or the electoral interests of the Republican Party. In the Bush view, there is no difference between the two.) The oft-heard lie “We do not torture” falls into the category of the Bush statesman-like lie.

Second, there is the fanatical true-believer lie. This is the lie which involves a suspension of reason and facts in order to embrace a Greater Truth, which, of course, is not a truth at all. This is the “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction” lie. Now Bush had been briefed with information that made clear this was anything but a certainty, and shortly before the invasion, the intelligence community secured information making it plain that it was almost certainly not true. Nevertheless, Bush approached the matter like a man with a classical case of Tolstoy’s syndrome. He had made up his mind as to the facts. He was uninterested in hearing any facts which contradicted the conclusions he had reached. Therefore he was able to lie much more convincingly because he truly convinced himself that the lies were the truth.

And third, there is the guilty lie. This is the sort of lie common to the domestic setting—when father, for instance, corners his 16-year-old son about having driven the Malibu without getting permission. Sonny protests his innocence. But his looks give his guilt away completely. Behind that look, Sonny is wondering: “Did I forget to throw away the beer cans again?”

Bush’s lies about when he learned about the NIE clearly fall into category three. His face, nervousness and gestures point to acute discomfort. He knows he’s lying. And he recognizes that most people in the room and in the public beyond know he’s lying. But he’s going to go right ahead and keep on with that lie.

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[JDPriestly]

1. This says it so well.

[truedelphi]

2. What has me a bit baffled is that last night there was a report stating that

Eighty per cent of Iowa's Repugs still support Bush.

How can people of any political stripe still support this man?

[Aristus]

3. This is why:

[truedelphi]

7. Hmmm I always thought it was the PURPLE KoolAide

But now that you have explained it so graphically, I can relax and go back to work.

[L. Coyote]

4. Conclusion: "it’s also essential that the bellicose rhetoric and lies of the Bush years be abandoned

"lies of the Bush years..." sounds like a good book title. Enough there for a voluminous tale, I dare say!

[phnx0221]

5. An Administration full of disinformation

It's well past the point for me to believe a shred of information that comes from this administration. It's quite apparent, that they will use any justification they can find to propagate a demonizing countries in the middle east. Tactically speaking, there is no way that we can justifiably put ourselves into yet another war, when we have so many troops in Iraq (federal and private), and a large lack of credibility in the eyes of the rest of the world.
Humanely speaking, there is no justification for entering into a war with Iran. We are not wanted in this region, the people wish that we would leave immediately, we cannot possibly justify yet another supreme act of aggression in the context of preemptive war. I would certainly hope that if they continue to build their rhetoric, that we as the American population, or as a world population, fight their words with truth and humanity, in hopes of stopping them from making yet another cataclysmic mistake.

[L. Coyote]

8. The Politics of Paranoia is built upon a False Paradigm. It is fundamentally delusional ideation

at the core. If you have a false assumption as a core belief, all else must fit within the framework your falsehood engenders. Well enough when you look in the mirror and say, "Damn, I look good." Not a mental posture suited to international relations. Add an inability to perceive the shades of grey between black and white .... and information becomes dumbed down to simplistic lies.

For those not sharing the false paradigm, we need to ask what underlies "demonizing countries in the middle east" and Iran in particular. This is one aspect, an underlying cause of falsehoods. There is another. False information, like the WMDs in Iraq, was used to justify unlawful actions. You can't parade out a crime in American politics. You have to diligently paint over public actions, like starting a war, with a layer of propaganda to justify them. The "justification" lies are not premised in false paradigm, albeit the skewed assumptions may justify the deception. Justify means make just. A false justification rationalizes or just sells or "advertises" actions that would not be supported if the truth were known. Once on this path, disinformation can become ever more necessary to maintain the falsehood after contravening facts accumulate.

I've been saying one thing all along, the "Iran Scare" is obfuscation of the Iraq situation. Now the Iran false flag, DANGER, is flying at 1/4 mast today, but all the while it was hoisted it served that purpose, obfuscation and distraction, as well as justification for the surge and a continued presence even. If the plan was to avert discussion of the latter, a continued presence, the exposition of the lie may swing that pendulum like never before, and force that debate.

Ironically, the lie may now also overthrow the false paradigms once and for all.

[Supersedeas]

6. He'll lie to your face because he can -- it's a power thing with Dimson

[ProSense]

9. Kick! n/t

[bobthedrummer]

10. And for every lie people have died...

[HCE SuiGeneris]

11. Already recommended.

Kick to expose more of the history of lies of The Boy Blunder...