Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Annular Flashback: October 28, 2002
This old gem from the Washington Post shines even brighter than it did a year ago:
posted by Blicero : 10/28/2003 02:44:00 AM
Misleading the Nation About War
Monday, October 28, 2002; Page A18
I know something about defending a president who's been caught lying. Let me tell my friend Ari Fleischer that he's only making things worse for President Bush. After The Post reported on Mr. Bush's many fabrications regarding Iraq and homeland security, Mr. Fleischer sent a letter to the editor in which he refers to President Clinton's false denial of an affair as a "crime that shook the nation" [Oct. 24].
The lawyer in me is compelled to point out that President Clinton has never been charged with nor convicted of a crime. The same cannot be said of President George W. Bush who, of course, was convicted of drunken driving many years ago. To his shame, in the 2000 campaign Mr. Bush falsely denied ever having been convicted of a crime.
The political veteran in me knows that lying about a long-past drunken driving conviction -- or an affair -- is understandable, if not excusable. What is not excusable is misleading the country -- repeatedly, as The Post and others have noted -- about going to war. There is something odd about a White House that thinks misleading people about sex is a crime, but misleading us about war is good public policy.
PAUL E. BEGALA
McLean
posted by Blicero : 10/28/2003 02:44:00 AM
