Unfit To Serve

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Unfit=20 To Serve

"You, Mr.. = Bush, are a=20 bald-faced liar."

8 Minute Video - = Keith=20 Olbermann

A Special Comment about the = President=92s=20 cataclysmic deception about Iran.

MSNBC = - Broadcast=20 12/06/07

Click on = "comments"=20 below to read or post comments

TRANSCRIPT

Finally, as promised, = a Special=20 Comment about the President's cataclysmic deception about=20 Iran.

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There are few choices more = terrifying than=20 the one Mr.. Bush has left us with tonight.

We have = either a=20 president who is too dishonest to restrain himself from = invoking=20 World War Three about Iran at least six weeks after he had = to have=20 known that the analogy would be fantastic, irresponsible = hyperbole=20 -- or we have a president too transcendently stupid not to = have=20 asked -- at what now appears to have been a series of = opportunities=20 to do so -- whether the fairy tales he either created or was = fed,=20 were still even remotely plausible.

A pathological=20 presidential liar, or an idiot-in-chief. It is the nightmare = scenario of political science fiction: A critical juncture = in our=20 history and, contained in either answer, a president = manifestly=20 unfit to serve, and behind him in the vice presidency: an=20 unapologetic war-monger who has long been seeing a world = visible=20 only to himself.

After Ms Perino's announcement from = the=20 White House late last night, the timeline is inescapable and = clear.=20

In August the President was told by his hand-picked = Major=20 Domo of intelligence Mike McConnell, a flinty, = high-strung-looking,=20 worrying-warrior who will always see more clouds than silver = linings, that what "everybody thought" about Iran might be, = in=20 essence, crap.

Yet on October 17th the President = said of=20 Iran and its president Ahmadinejad:

"I've told people = that if=20 you're interested in avoiding World War Three, it seems like = you=20 ought to be interested in preventing them from have the = knowledge to=20 make a nuclear weapon."

And as he said that, Mr.. = Bush knew=20 that at bare minimum there was a strong chance that his = rhetoric was=20 nothing more than words with which to scare the Iranians. =

Or=20 was it, Sir, to scare the Americans?

Does Iran not = really fit=20 into the equation here? Have you just scribbled it into the=20 fill-in-the-blank on the same template you used, to scare us = about=20 Iraq?

In August, any commander-in-chief still = able-minded or=20 uncorrupted or both, Sir, would have invoked the quality the = job=20 most requires: mental flexibility.

A bright man, or = an=20 honest man, would have realized no later than the McConnell = briefing=20 that the only true danger about Iran was the damage that = could be=20 done by an unhinged, irrational Chicken Little of a = president,=20 shooting his mouth off, backed up by only his own hysteria = and his=20 own delusions of omniscience.

Not Mahmoud = Ahmadinejad, Mr.=20 Bush.

The Chicken Little of presidents is the one, = Sir, that=20 you see in the mirror.

And the mind reels at the = thought of=20 a Vice President fully briefed on the revised Intel as long = as two=20 weeks ago -- briefed on the fact that Iran abandoned its = pursuit of=20 this imminent threat four years ago -- who never bothered to = mention=20 it to his boss.

It is nearly forgotten today, but = throughout=20 much of Ronald Reagan's presidency it was widely believed = that he=20 was little more than a front-man for some never-viewed,=20 behind-the-scenes, string-puller.

Today, as = evidenced by=20 this latest remarkable, historic malfeasance, it is = inescapable,=20 that Dick Cheney is either this president's evil = ventriloquist, or=20 he thinks he is.

What servant of any of the 42 = previous=20 presidents could possibly withhold information of this = urgency and=20 gravity, and wind up back at his desk the next morning, = instead of=20 winding up before a Congressional investigation -- or a = criminal=20 one?

Mr. Bush -- if you can still hear us -- if you = did not=20 previously agree to this scenario in which Dick Cheney is = the actual=20 detective and you're Remington Steele -- you must = disenthrall=20 yourself: Mr. Cheney has usurped your constitutional powers, = cut you=20 out of the information loop, and led you down the path to an = unprecedented presidency in which the facts are optional, = the Intel=20 is valued less than the hunch, and the assistant runs the = store.=20

The problem is, Sir, your assistant is robbing you = -- and=20 your country -- blind.

Not merely in monetary terms, = Mr..=20 Bush, but more importantly of the traditions and = righteousness for=20 which we have stood, at great risk, for centuries: Honesty, = Law,=20 Moral Force.

Mr.. Cheney has helped, Sir, to make = your=20 Administration into the kind our ancestors saw in the 1860's = and=20 1870's and 1880's -- the ones that abandoned Reconstruction, = and=20 sent this country marching backwards into the pit of = American=20 Apartheid.

Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, = Cleveland...=20

Presidents who will be remembered only in a blur of = failure,=20 Mr.. Bush.

Presidents who will be remembered only as=20 functions of those who opposed them -- the opponents whom = history=20 proved right.

Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, = Cleveland...=20 Bush.

Would that we could let this President off the = hook by=20 seeing him only as marionette or moron.

But a study = of the=20 mutation of his language about Iran proves that though he = may not be=20 very good at it, he is, himself, still a manipulative,=20 Machiavellian, snake-oil salesman.

The Bushian = etymology was=20 tracked by Dan Froomkin at the Washington Post's = website.

It=20 is staggering.

March 31st: "Iran is trying to develop = a=20 nuclear weapon..."

June 5th: Iran's "pursuit of = nuclear=20 weapons..."

June 19th: "consequences to the Iranian=20 government if they continue to pursue a nuclear=20 weapon..."

July 12th: "the same regime in Iran that = is=20 pursuing nuclear weapons..."

August 6th: "this is a=20 government that has proclaimed its desire to build a nuclear = weapon..."

Notice a pattern?

Trying to = develop, build=20 or pursue a nuclear weapon.

Then, sometime between = August 6th=20 and August 9th, those terms are suddenly swapped out, so = subtly that=20 only in retrospect can we see that somebody has warned the=20 President, not only that he has gone out too far on the limb = of=20 terror -- but there may not even be a tree=20 there...

McConnell, or someone, must have briefed him = then.

August 9th: "They have expressed their desire = to be=20 able to enrich uranium, which we believe is a step toward = having a=20 nuclear weapons program..."

August 28th: "Iran's = active=20 pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear=20 weapons..."

October 4th: "you should not have the = know-how on=20 how to make a (nuclear) weapon..."

October 17th: = "until they=20 suspend and/or make it clear that they, that their = statements aren't=20 real, yeah, I believe they want to have the **capacity**, = the=20 **knowledge**, in order to make a nuclear = weapon."

Before=20 August 9th, it's: Trying to develop, build or pursue a = nuclear=20 weapon.

After August 9th, it's: Desire, pursuit,=20 want...knowledge technology know-how to enrich = uranium.

And=20 we are to believe, Mr.. Bush, that the National Intelligence = Estimate this week talks of the Iranians suspending their = nuclear=20 weapons program in 2003...

And you talked of the = Iranians=20 suspending their nuclear weapons program on October=20 17th...

And that's just a = coincidence?

---

And=20 we are to believe, Mr.. Bush, that nobody told you any of = this until=20 last week?

Your insistence that you were not briefed = on the=20 NIE until last week might be legally true -- something like = "what=20 the definition of is is -- but with the subject matter being = not=20 interns but the threat of nuclear war.

Legally, it = might save=20 you from some war crimes trial... but ethically, it is a=20 lie.

It is indefensible.

You have been yelling = threats=20 into a phone for nearly four months, after the guy on the = other end=20 had already hung up.

You, Mr.. Bush, are a bald-faced = liar.

--

And more over, you have just revealed = that=20 John Bolton, and Norman Podhoretz, and the Wall Street = Journal=20 Editorial board, are also bald-faced liars.

We are to = believe=20 that the Intel Community, or maybe the State Department, = cooked the=20 raw intelligence about Iran, falsely diminished the Iranian = nuclear=20 threat, to make you look bad?

And you proceeded to = let them=20 make you look bad?

---

You not only knew all = of this=20 about Iran, in early August...

But you also knew... = it was...=20 accurate.

And instead of sharing this good news with = the=20 people you have obviously forgotten you = represent...

You=20 merely fine-tuned your terrorizing of those people, to = legally cover=20 your own backside...

While you filled the factual = gap with=20 sadistic visions of -- as you phrased it on August 28th: a = quote=20 "nuclear holocaust" -- and, as you phrased it on October = 17th,=20 quote: "World War Three."

---

My comments, Mr. = Bush,=20 are often dismissed as simple repetitions of the phrase = "George Bush=20 has no business being president."

Well, guess=20 what?

Tonight: hanged by your own words... convicted = by your=20 own deliberate lies...

You, sir, have no business... = being=20 president.

---

Good night, and good = luck.

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