Bush lies again

October 14, 2004 4:58 AM

During the Wednesday night debate, Senator Kerry questioned why the President said that he "was not concerned" with Osama Bin Laden. In response, Bush said, “Gosh, I don’t think I ever said I’m not worried about Osama Bin Laden. That’s kinda one of those exaggerations." The video proof is here showing that he indeed say exactly that.
posted by Dome-O-Rama (26 comments total)

Wow, that is one hell of a FPP. Setting the world on fire with that one!!
posted by a3matrix at 5:07 AM on October 14, 2004

Politician == Liar

No shit Sherlock!!
posted by DrDoberman at 5:26 AM on October 14, 2004

it's good to be reminded--thanks Dome.
posted by amberglow at 5:27 AM on October 14, 2004

This is what cvaught my attention. Bush, in the previous debate, told Kerry and the audience that we could not at this stage use drugs made overseas because they were not safe. Asked about the lack of flu shots, Bush said: we will work closely with Canada to get the flue shots. The company that "defaulted" on the flu shots is an American firm located--yep--out of the country (England). The two bilggest selling drugs used by Americans (viagra and heart stuff) owned by American companies but made--yep--out of the country--Ireland.
posted by Postroad at 6:18 AM on October 14, 2004

well, anyway: Dick Cheney's driller

(LATimes account: sparklebottom/sparklebottom)
posted by matteo at 6:24 AM on October 14, 2004

I think this is the biggest gaffe of the debates. Bush gave the press free license to play the old quote all day long today, and it's one that reflects poorly on his commitment to capturing or killing bin Laden. Millions of people will find out for the first time that in 2002 he was already bored with the hunt for the architect of 9/11. His handlers had to be cringing when he denied saying it.
posted by rcade at 6:26 AM on October 14, 2004

It sort of sounds to me like Bush was saying that you don't wage war against a single person--which is, at least, a legitimate wartime strategy. My question is are we more upset by what he said or that he said he never said it? (If that makes any sense...)
posted by sexymofo at 6:37 AM on October 14, 2004

Wow, that is one hell of a FPP. Setting the world on fire with that one!!

You're right. The President of the the United States shrugs off the biggest criminal since hitler then lies about it to get reelected. No biggie.

You should learn to choose your battles better, a3matrix.
posted by jpoulos at 6:44 AM on October 14, 2004

That had to hurt, a3matrix. Make your saving throw for half damage.
posted by rcade at 7:02 AM on October 14, 2004

It's not that he said he "wasn't bovvered by Usama bin Laden?"

It's quite simply that he lied about it.

Why is that acceptable to you, a3matrix?

Do you make the same allowances for politicians from all parties? If you do, how do you know what policies they will implement, and those that are window dressing?
posted by dash_slot- at 7:06 AM on October 14, 2004

The President of the the United States shrugs off the biggest criminal since hitler then lies about it to get reelected. No biggie.

Once again, people flick the "Off" switch in their brain when a post is criticized. Hard to believe this needs explaining, but here goes:

As with yesterday's "Bush Killed Superman" dreck--no one's saying the content of the post doesn't have important ramifications in the world, they're just saying the ensuing FPP is for shit and isn't telling anyone anything they didn't already know (except amberglow, who for some reason found it "good to be reminded" even though it happened less than 24 hours ago).
posted by dhoyt at 7:11 AM on October 14, 2004

sexymofo, it's the lie, it's the fucking lie! (And not just that one, but, oh screw...)
posted by acrobat at 7:17 AM on October 14, 2004

If you look at the quote, it is not what you think.

In typical slippery politician style he said:
Gosh, I don’t think I ever said...
not:
Gosh, I didn't say...

As such it is NOT a lie, but an oversight. gotta love the Pres ;o)

With reference to the flu drugs that was also mentioned here, didn't he say last time that Canadian drugs were not safe? Yet when he was asked about lack of flu shots this time he said, that's OK we'll ship some in from (unsafe) Canada! Go figure.
posted by DrDoberman at 7:27 AM on October 14, 2004

I never thought I'd go fight the 21st century American civil war, and I don't think I will. I'll watch it on TV.
posted by acrobat at 7:36 AM on October 14, 2004

Does George W Bush even realize when he lies? The Timber Company... the Osama denial... does he remember he did/said those things, or is lying fair game if it helps him "win" a debate? That's without even getting into the Iraq/WMD issue...

It's a long way from George Washington's philosophy of "I can not tell a lie".
posted by Stuart_R at 7:46 AM on October 14, 2004

How long did it take for them to get this video out? It seems both parties must maintain fairly extensive video and audio teams to look up or produce this stuff on demand.
posted by rks404 at 8:05 AM on October 14, 2004

hmm, you took my post wrong I think. I was merely inferring that we had another post pointing out GW's change of stance calling him a liar etc... Not battling

I thought it was quite clear that we all took that for granted already.

rcade: I rolled a 1, double damage?

I think dhoyt hit the mark better then I did.

isn't telling anyone anything they didn't already know
posted by a3matrix at 8:07 AM on October 14, 2004

As such it is NOT a lie, but an oversight.

Actually, I think the best interpretation is as an admission that he doesn't think....
posted by rushmc at 8:08 AM on October 14, 2004

Just for posterity, here is the President's quote from Presidential Press Conference, March 13, 2002:
Q: But don't you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.

But once we set out the policy and started executing the plan, he became -- we shoved him out more and more on the margins. He has no place to train his al Qaeda killers anymore. And if we -- excuse me for a minute -- and if we find a training camp, we'll take care of it. Either we will or our friends will. That's one of the things -- part of the new phase that's becoming apparent to the American people is that we're working closely with other governments to deny sanctuary, or training, or a place to hide, or a place to raise money.

And we've got more work to do. See, that's the thing the American people have got to understand, that we've only been at this six months. This is going to be a long struggle. I keep saying that; I don't know whether you all believe me or not. But time will show you that it's going to take a long time to achieve this objective. And I can assure you, I am not going to blink. And I'm not going to get tired. Because I know what is at stake. And history has called us to action, and I am going to seize this moment for the good of the world, for peace in the world and for freedom.

This is what he said last night:
Gosh, I just don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. It's kind of one of those exaggerations. Of course we're worried about Osama bin Laden. We're on the hunt after Osama bin Laden. We're using every asset at our disposal to get Osama bin Laden. My opponent said this war is a matter of intelligence and law enforcement. No, this war is a matter of using every asset at our disposal to keep the American people protected.

You make the call.
posted by plemeljr at 9:06 AM on October 14, 2004

You're right. The President of the the United States shrugs off the biggest criminal since hitler then lies about it to get reelected. No biggie.

Is he really? Ya he had a couple high profile attacks against americans but he probably wouldn't even make my worst post war criminals top ten list. I'd think Papa and Baby Doc, Kim Jong Il, members of the Barre Regime, etc. etc. would come out way ahead of Osama by whatever metric you want to choose for biggest criminal except americans killed.
posted by Mitheral at 9:10 AM on October 14, 2004

Just for posterity, here is the President's quote from Presidential Press Conference, March 13, 2002:

... I can assure you, I am not going to blink.

LIAR!

Also, gotta love the page title from plemeljr's link.
Nixon: President Goes to China
Reagan: President Wins Cold War
Bush Jr: President Holds Press Conference
posted by oncogenesis at 9:23 AM on October 14, 2004

Bush didn't say he wasn't "worried" about bin Laden; he said he wasn't "concerned" about him. Kerry's a liar!

And Bush's line about Kerry being on the far side of the left bank was a two-fer: insulting liberals and the French in one presidential put-down.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:56 AM on October 14, 2004

DrDoberman and Postroad: When the drugs are made in Canada they're perfectly safe. It's only drugs made in America and purchased in Canada that are too dangerous for Americans to use.
posted by Songdog at 11:04 AM on October 14, 2004

How long did it take for them to get this video out?

Well, it was up on Atrios last night before the debate was over, as evinced by the MeFi debate thread where it was first linked, back before it suddenly became *cough* FPP-worthy.
posted by soyjoy at 11:30 AM on October 14, 2004

kirkaracha's right. Bush never said "worried". But Kerry didn't claim that he did... he quoted "concerned" correctly.

Kerry quotes Bush as saying "X".
Bush complains that he never said "Y".
Kerry contemplates the nonsequitur.

Chaos ensues.
posted by Jeff Howard at 12:47 PM on October 14, 2004

Aces! Only 718 more Bush lies, 408 Kerry prevarications, and 1356 Cheney Evil Avuncular-Psycho Just-So-Stories to make posts about!

Leave Edwards alone, though. He might cry.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:54 PM on October 14, 2004