What Difference Does it Make if Bush Lied?
Copyright William E. Cripe Sr. Aug. 2004
How far have we retreated from a common decency and good sense? I think Michael Moore answers my question as well as anyone. Seated before Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly on the night of the convention of democrats, Moore belligerently repeated an incessant refrain of “Bush lied; Bush lied!” When pressed by O’Reilly to explain how Bush lied, Moore could only offer that there were no weapons of mass destruction. Moore’s post-modern deconstruction of language determines a lie to be saying something that is not true, regardless of intent or mitigating circumstances. Let me explain how ridiculous this is.
Let’s say that on the way to answer your telephone in the kitchen you pass through the living room where “Bob” is sitting watching television. You pick up the phone and the person on the other end asks to speak with Bob to which you reply, “Hold on, he’s in the other room.” But as soon as you had passed through the living room, Bob walked out into the garage. You call his name careening your head around the corner but Bob’s not there. You tell the person on the phone, “I’m sorry, he must have stepped out.” In Michael Moore’s world, since Bob wasn’t there and you said he was, you are a liar!
So even though the intelligence communities of five different nations, and former President Clinton, along with the Democrat’s nominee for president and senators too numerous to count, all said Saddam Hussein had WMD’s, in Moore’s world of don’t confuse me with the facts, the president lied.
In a special briefing with President Bush this past April, I was impressed by the apparent honesty which exuded from this man. Still, I was skeptical—after all, we were in Washington… So I set out from that day until now, keeping my ear to the ground for any inconsistency in the president’s words to us that day at the Whitehouse with other statements and actions that would follow.
In my search for truth, I critically read Bob Woodward’s book “Plan of Attack,” finding him to be a reliable reporter also searching for truth rather than an axe to grind. After exercising extreme discipline listening to some of Bush’s most irrational critics to the point of nausea, this is my conclusion.
There has not been a single statement, decision, or action taken by this president where upon examination, interrogation and investigation he was found to knowingly mislead or deceive. For me, it is a huge deal whether the president lied or not for as the wise Solomon wrote in the book of Proverbs, “He who walks in integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out.” Again, Solomon writes, “The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the falseness of the treacherous will destroy them.” We are seeing this played out almost daily as election year politicking intensifies.
At the end of the day, all we have to rely on are a person’s words until there are actions to confirm or deny those words. With three and a half years of hyper-critical, under-the-microscope examination, President Bush continues to emerge scrupulously trustworthy. You may not like everything this president says and does, but you can go to the bank knowing that what is spoken is as it is and you haven’t been sold a bill of goods. In my book, that’s a priceless commodity.
How far have we retreated from a common decency and good sense? I think Michael Moore answers my question as well as anyone. Seated before Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly on the night of the convention of democrats, Moore belligerently repeated an incessant refrain of “Bush lied; Bush lied!” When pressed by O’Reilly to explain how Bush lied, Moore could only offer that there were no weapons of mass destruction. Moore’s post-modern deconstruction of language determines a lie to be saying something that is not true, regardless of intent or mitigating circumstances. Let me explain how ridiculous this is.
Let’s say that on the way to answer your telephone in the kitchen you pass through the living room where “Bob” is sitting watching television. You pick up the phone and the person on the other end asks to speak with Bob to which you reply, “Hold on, he’s in the other room.” But as soon as you had passed through the living room, Bob walked out into the garage. You call his name careening your head around the corner but Bob’s not there. You tell the person on the phone, “I’m sorry, he must have stepped out.” In Michael Moore’s world, since Bob wasn’t there and you said he was, you are a liar!
So even though the intelligence communities of five different nations, and former President Clinton, along with the Democrat’s nominee for president and senators too numerous to count, all said Saddam Hussein had WMD’s, in Moore’s world of don’t confuse me with the facts, the president lied.
In a special briefing with President Bush this past April, I was impressed by the apparent honesty which exuded from this man. Still, I was skeptical—after all, we were in Washington… So I set out from that day until now, keeping my ear to the ground for any inconsistency in the president’s words to us that day at the Whitehouse with other statements and actions that would follow.
In my search for truth, I critically read Bob Woodward’s book “Plan of Attack,” finding him to be a reliable reporter also searching for truth rather than an axe to grind. After exercising extreme discipline listening to some of Bush’s most irrational critics to the point of nausea, this is my conclusion.
There has not been a single statement, decision, or action taken by this president where upon examination, interrogation and investigation he was found to knowingly mislead or deceive. For me, it is a huge deal whether the president lied or not for as the wise Solomon wrote in the book of Proverbs, “He who walks in integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out.” Again, Solomon writes, “The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the falseness of the treacherous will destroy them.” We are seeing this played out almost daily as election year politicking intensifies.
At the end of the day, all we have to rely on are a person’s words until there are actions to confirm or deny those words. With three and a half years of hyper-critical, under-the-microscope examination, President Bush continues to emerge scrupulously trustworthy. You may not like everything this president says and does, but you can go to the bank knowing that what is spoken is as it is and you haven’t been sold a bill of goods. In my book, that’s a priceless commodity.
posted by PB at 7:34 AM
1 Comments:
Once more we see the truth behind the religious right: who cares how many commandments a person breaks so long as he's OUR man? Pitiful. The more religion claims to change the more it stays the same. The only thing more pedantic and moronic than the statements so called "Moral" religious people make is that despite their bigoted narrow-minded and twisted world view, they continue to make them. Sad. And dangerous for those who live in a world where invisible gods do not hold their puppet strings. I guess that is why there are so many religions and they all claim to be the "one truth." Find the theology that reflects your own psychosis and follow along. Sad.
Post a Comment
<< Home