Heads up, TIME - Salon says it was "The Year of the Liar"

[Paragon]

http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2003/12/22/liar/index.html (subscription or day pass req.)

The president's claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was easily the biggest lie of the year. Strange, then, that months after his State of the Union statement that the administration's evidence left "no doubt" that weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq, President Bush still hasn't been forced to explain himself, nor has he apologized for duping the American people by allowing them to believe that the imminent threat of WMD in Iraq justified an immediate invasion. Even if WMD turn up now, the administration has failed to produce the preponderance of evidence that we were repeatedly led to believe existed. Bush pulled this off not only by refusing to admit guilt, but by sidestepping the entire question, continuing to distort the facts by discussing 9/11 and the need to "battle terrorism" in the same breath with Iraq. Sadly, the American public has the patience of a hyperactive squirrel, and the tough questions only come for so long. Eventually, the country seems to resign itself to never really knowing the truth, or never getting a reasonable response to a serious allegation. Just as our problems in Iraq seemed to be registering with the public, we capture Saddam -- and Bush's poll ratings soar. The second he seems to be winning, all previous trespasses are forgiven or forgotten.

[Blaze Diem]

1. THANK YOU SALON !!!

Now repeat this louder and more often, please..

[buycitgo]

2. never mind

should've read your header.......just posted the same paragraphs.....only relevant material in the article.

too bad; was hoping for more

lind to Dean article included there--old story, but more appropriate with each passing day:

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030606.html

[Paragon]

3. Yeah, thanks...

Exactly what I reprinted in the original post.

As for the "padding", the piece is written by their entertainment editor - so of course she uses examples of popular culture to further the hypothesis, including Al Franken and even Howard Dean.

Never said it was a hardcore political piece - just an examination of our culture of liars and how we (or rather, how we don't) react.

[snippy]

4. It was a Banner Year for Bush Lies.

The White House cooperated with the 9/11 commission but the boxes were labeled "Made in USA" while the decorative turkey was not labeled at all so the White House did not reveal the identity of a CIA operative which caused Bush's plane to be spotted because before Saddam bought the uranium Bush had no plans on his desk to invade the aircraft carrier since it was too far offshore for the Navy to make a large enough banner to describe the WMD we have found in Iraq that Saddam was going to give to Osama in 45 minutes as a reward for using Iraqi hijackers on 9/11 but everyone got a tax cut which allowed Iraqi oil revenue to pay for the cost of the invasion by a small number of troops and that is why Laura dropped the dog.

There is no subject so shallow, serious, or somber that Bush will not lie about it. The only other option is not to lie. And that Bush can not do.