Don't ask, just don't ask - from www.201k.com

[pookastew]

From www.201k.com

Don't ask, don't tell

The capture of Saddam Hussein has sent the media whores into over-drive, pretending that it somehow hurts the campaigns of Democrats running for their party's nomination--as if any of them were pro-Saddam.

They aren't, of course, and never were. That's just the GOP line: anyone who is critical of the Bush administration is "pro-Saddam", and must be dismayed that he's been caught.

Nonsense. If the United States military couldn't take Iraq and capture Saddam Hussein it would have been a shocking failure. The question was, and is, was the Iraq war justified, and did the Bush Administration and the Pentagon mislead the country and the world to accomplish it?

In other words, the real question to ask now is: what does the capture of Saddam actually mean? How does it affect the situation on the ground in Iraq, or on the war on terror in general?

The problem with this question (for the White House) is that you really can't answer it without discussing the overall goals of the mission in Iraq. And they've had some problems with that (not that the White House press corps has noticed, mind you).

But one reporter tried to get at this question in yesterday's press conference with President Bush:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031215-3.html

Q Will Saddam's capture accelerate the timetable for pulling U.S. troops out, and increase the likelihood of getting more foreign troops involved?

THE PRESIDENT: We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve. And the temptation is to try to get the President or somebody to put a timetable on the definition of getting the job done. We're just going to stay the course.

Now I know what you're thinking; you're thinking, "he didn't answer the question". And you're right. But much more important is the cleverly crafted double-talk of the second sentence. What in the world does "put a timetable on the definition of getting the job done" mean?

This isn't just a grammatical error. George Bush knows you don't "put a timetable" on "a definition". What he's doing is deliberately confused the notion of "a timetable"--to bring troops home--with "the definition of getting the job done".

Forget the dark humor of a Republican saying we can't set a timetable for troop removal--remember Kosovo? GOP senators and Congressmen demanded to know the EXACT DAY Clinton would bring US troops home--what the President of the United States said yesterday was that we can't ask him what the definition of the mission is.

And not one member of the White House press corps noticed or objected.

[grannylib]

1. Well of course not...the 'Liberal Media' are nothing but whores for the

Busheviks...
This incoherent, fumbling, bumbling failure will get away with whatever f**kups he pulls, because that's the way PNAC wants it.
And the corporate media has little choice but to go along with it.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. Brilliant. kick

[Nadienne]

3. Good Catch

Sharp eye

How do we counter?

[pookastew]

4. How do we counter?

Send the question, the "answer", and a brief query about its (non)sense to every media outfit you have contact to. That's what I do.

I would suggest keeping it simple. The evasive question nearly speaks for itself.