Amid Iraq Policy Shift, Refusal to Admit Change Is a Constant (Milbank)

[Khephra]

By Dana Milbank
Tuesday, September 9, 2003; Page A21


When President Bush last week decided to reverse course and seek a U.N. resolution giving the international body a greater role in Iraq, officials from the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon marched forth with one familiar message: nothing new here.

"This is a continuation of what we have been doing," Bush press secretary Scott McClellan said from the podium.

"This isn't anything new; there's no big news story here," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld repeated.

"The president has said this from the very beginning," Secretary of State Colin L. Powell noted.

Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus taught the world that, because things are always changing, "we cannot step twice into the same river." Now, in the 21st century, the Bush administration is turning poor Heraclitus on his head with a firm belief that, regardless of appearance, Bush never changes. This bit of metaphysics, while creative, has a flaw: Transcripts of officials' earlier remarks indicate their views are not as pure as advertised.

more...................

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45475-2003Sep8.html

[saigon68]

1. WHY NOT JUST SAY IT--THEY ARE UNPRINCIPLED LIARS

Like writing on a beach, the tide comes in---you write the TRUTH-- all over !!!!!!

[kentuck]

4. Excellent analogy !

Forget all those old lies about WMDs, nuclear material, Al Qaeda in Iraq, imminent threats, etc. We have new lies now.

[ninkasi]

2. Pretty amazing

The Bush administration has always done this. That they continue is the fault of the press, who before now, have not commented on the obvious lies.

What's funny in a way, is to point out the story shifts to conservatives who have taken a stand defending one of their inane positions, only to have that same conservative try to back pedal when the administration's story changes. They've already spent time arguing passionately for one thing, and the script is rewritten without bothering to give them a copy.

[Khephra]

3. I wouldn't say that about Milbank

He's been pointing out this stuff for a long time now.

[ninkasi]

5. You're right...

Milbank has been excellent at pointed out the truth, as has Krugman. Sorry, didn't mean to generalize. I sometimes forget that there are rays of truth amid the lies of Faux News and MSNBC.

[Khephra]

6. Thank goodness for the likes of Krugman and Milbank

I don't know if we could have made it without the few steady voices that have been out there all along.

[priller]

7. Milbank's not making any friends at the WH

Especially with this hilarious paragraph thrown in at the end:

The Bush administration had a major-league case of potty mouth last week. Rumsfeld, reacting to an unfavorable Washington Post report, told reporters the story was "horse <bad word>." Retired Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, a State Department consultant, said it was not surprising that U.S. forces prevailed in Iraq in the March-April war. "Ohio State beat Slippery Rock, 62 to nothing -- no <same bad word>," he said. Finally, White House press secretary Scott McClellan, at a White House briefing Friday, realized he was late for a meeting and said, "Oh, <that word again>." Reminded that he was on the record, McClellan replied, "I said 'shoot.' "

[Beetwasher]

8. Man, it must SUCK being a bald-faced liar

and being on record saying the exact opposite of what your now saying.