Cohen (WP): Not Getting the Truth

[Sinistrous]

Wonderfully unambiguous slam at the on-going Bush lie-a-thon:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32659-2003Oct15.html


Not Getting the Truth

By Richard Cohen
Thursday, October 16, 2003; Page A25

(snip)

More to the point is the administration's Westmorelandish insistence on asserting the insupportable -- that Saddam Hussein was a grave threat to the United States because he was linked to terrorism and armed to the teeth with those awful weapons. There is no truth to that -- none. And yet Bush continues to insist on it. Once, it was possible merely to argue the matter, as some of the Europeans did. Now, though, questions about facts have become questions of judgment -- and candor. How can we believe what Bush says about the reconstruction of Iraq when we no longer believe the rest of what he says?

I am ensconced here at the American Academy in Berlin. I came to see my country from abroad, to defend it and what it did in Iraq (to the extent that I can), but the task has become increasingly difficult. No one specifically mentions Vietnam -- that's my own point of reference -- but they wonder about an administration that has been ambushed by the facts in Iraq and insists it has been vindicated.

It's one thing to be an Ugly American. It's another to be a dumb one.
(emphasis mine)

[ewagner]

1. This is what worries me:

It's one thing to be an Ugly American. It's another to be a dumb one.

The public seems to be buying dubya's propaganda campaign hook, line and sinker. There must be some research available to the White House that says that Americans will believe anything they say as long as they say it long enough and loud enough.

I've been absolutely amazed at the content of both Dubya's and Cheney's speeches in the past couple of days. They are repeating charges which have been discredited over and over again and the public seems to be buying it. Aside from the Post article, I haven't seen any significant effort by the media (especially the electronic media) to call these people to task for their lies.

As we all know too well, an unchallenged lie becomes truth.

[Resistance Is Futile]

4. Effectiveness of propaganda

There must be some research available to the White House that says that Americans will believe anything they say as long as they say it long enough and loud enough.

The penultimate body of research into this is the history of the Third Reich. Every propagandist uses Big Lies for the simple reason that they work

[lovedems]

2. Wow! I love it!

Bush has blamed the CIA and FBI for faulty intelligence and now the media for not telling his version of the truth. I am interested to see which agency/outlet gets the blame next...How many more people can they piss off for going against their meassage? I would like to point the finger at shrub, and you all know which finger that would be!

[gulliver]

3. It is interesting.

Everyone now knows there isn't any evidence of WMDs or al Qaeda links now, yet the Bushies continue to draw the same conclusions. I think this says something about their standards of evidence and sense of proportion of a threat in matters of national security. Or maybe it says something worse.

Here's what I mean. If they are saying their meager current evidence supports war, they are either nuts or lying. If they are lying now, maybe they were lying before the war too, because if anything, their evidence was even weaker then.