PRESIDENT BUSH: "So what's the difference?"

[Iris]

The Moderate Independent

PRESIDENT BUSH: “SO WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE” IF YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS ARE NOW DEAD BECAUSE I LIED

President’s Shocking Taunt Caught On Video


JANUARY 9, 2004 – The date was December 16, 2003. Saddam Hussein had just been captured. President Bush was feeling his oats, invincible at the moment, redeemed and propelled by the recent events.

It was in this context that he stepped up, more boldly and brashly than ever, and let down his guard to show his true feelings. And what resulted was one of the brashest, most horrendous commentaries ever made by a US President, and the whole incident was caught on tape by ABC News.

It was during an interview with Diane Sawyer. She opened an exchange with the President regarding his WMD claims and the lack of evidence that has turned up to back them up so far.

DIANE SAWYER: Fifty percent of the American people have said that they think the administration exaggerated the evidence going into the war with Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, connection to terrorism. Are the American people wrong? Misguided?

The President hemmed and hawed a bit, trying to avoid answering, but Diane pressed the issue.

DIANE SAWYER: …When you take a look back, Vice President Cheney said there is no doubt, Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, not programs, not intent. There is no doubt he has weapons of mass destruction. Secretary Powell said 100 to 500 tons of chemical weapons and now the inspectors say that there's no evidence of these weapons existing right now. The yellow cake in Niger, in Niger. George Tenet has said that shouldn't have been in your speech. Secretary Powell talked about mobile labs. Again, the intelligence — the inspectors have said they can't confirm this, they can't corroborate.

Once again the President, I guess used to being on FOX News and getting only interviews by people who don’t demand actual answers, hemmed and hawed and tried to avoid answering. Diane asked again:

DIANE SAWYER: Again, I'm just trying to ask, these are supporters, people who believed in the war who have asked the question.

The President made one more feeble attempt to avoid answering, giving just another of his Rush Limbaugh like non-answers that work on talk-radio and with Bush/Limbaughians, but not in the real world. But at last, when Diane pressed him one more time, he let down his guard, lost his temper, and let out his true feelings with a horrific admission.

DIANE SAWYER: (You) stated as a hard fact, that there were weapons of mass destruction as opposed to the possibility that he could move to acquire those weapons still —

PRESIDENT BUSH: So what's the difference?

“So what’s the difference?” if he lied, said our President plainly. “So what’s the difference?” if hundreds of our sons and daughters are dead and still dying, if we killed thousands of Iraqis, if the American taxpayers have spent over $100 billion dollars, sending the nation even further into massive debts. “So?” “So what’s the difference,” if it was all just a trick and a bunch of lies on his part?

Diane, as you could expect, was flabbergasted, and could only get out:

DIANE SAWYER: Well —

The President had become the arrogant gangster boss who just told the chief of police, “Yeah, so what if I’m running a drug cartel – what are you going to do about it?” In reality, what could Diane do – she had done all she needed to, capturing the President’s confession on video tape.

The President, emboldened by Diane’s momentary stunned stammering, cockily set back into trying to feed Rush Limbaugh lines, as if nothing had just happened. That is the typical follow-up of any abusive addict or criminal type. They say something so heinous, challenging you to do something about it, and then act is everything is still just normal and go on again as if you have no reason to be startled or take action.

“Yeah, so what if I’m lying?” the belligerent, wife-beating husband tells his wife. And then, figuring she will not have the courage to respond or take action, he acts as if what he said was no big deal and goes on like everything is normal and he never said what he said.

In this manner, the President fed Ms. Sawyer another Limbaugh line, but Diane was tough as nails and refused to back down

DIANE SAWYER: But, but, again, some, some…

Notice how she had to fight just to speak. But she continued…

DIANE SAWYER: But, but, again, some, some of the critics have said this, combined with the failure to establish proof of, of elaborate terrorism contacts, has indicated that there's just not precision, at best, and misleading, at worst.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Yeah. Look — what — what we based our evidence on was a very sound…

He must have felt he was back in his old partying days with people who would let him get away with saying obvious lies weren’t lies. Diane didn’t.

DIANE SAWYER: Nothing should have been more precise?

PRESIDENT BUSH: What — I, I — I…

Now the President was stammering. He was beginning to realize he had just been caught on tape with a horrible confession.

PRESIDENT BUSH: What — I, I — I made my decision based upon enough intelligence… Saddam Hussein was a threat...

Desperate and pathetic. He used “enough intelligence.” “Saddam was a threat.” Like the belligerent teenager caught with a bag of dope, he tries to shift focus to any unrelated thing he can. Mom has to drag him back to the actual question, not does his friend Bobby smoke dope, not about if his grades in school are good or not, but is he using drugs and stealing money.

In this case, the question wasn’t if Saddam was a nice person who his father should have been friends with or not, and the question wasn’t if he had ever read any intelligence reports. The question was, “You just looked America in the eye and said, “So what’s the difference,” if all your claims which you used to get us to agree to the war were based on lies. You and your administration said clearly and repeatedly that Saddam had lots of weapons of mass destruction right now and was an immediate danger to American because of this, and this was why we had to go to war now.

DIANE SAWYER: …If he doesn't have weapons of mass destruction? [inaudible] —

Finally, President Bush decided to, even though on video, just tell yet another flat out lie. In desperation, he said:

PRESIDENT BUSH: I made the right decision for America because Saddam Hussein used weapons of mass destruction (in 1986, using helicopters my father gave him with US taxpayer money, and not once since then), invaded Kuwait (over a decade ago and has since withdrawn and never invaded anyone else)…

Yes, this is the lie the President now tells over and over and over, completely without conscience. “So what if everyone is fighting and dying because of my lies? Even more, so what if they keep dying because I’m still lying now? I lied and will continue to lie all I want, and “So what” who dies or what it destroys or costs the nation.”

Now you have yet more clear evidence as to why no good American can support President Bush. Everyone knows his State of the Union speech and dozens of other speeches by him and his administration did not say, “We must go to war because in 1988, when my father still sent taxpayer money to Saddam and called him an ally, Saddam used chemical weapons on his own people – and has never ever used them since, or because Saddam invaded Kuwait over a decade ago and has since withdrawn and never invaded anyone else.” Everyone knows he said Saddam was a threat now, had lots of WMDs now – the President knows this. And yet he, completely without conscience, not even changed or affected by the fact that so many people are directly dying because of his lies, continues to add lie upon lie upon lie.

His brainwashed supporters will say, “He didn’t lie,” even as they see it here in quotes again, “I made the right decision for America because Saddam Hussein used weapons of mass destruction (in 1988 on his own people using helicopters my dad gave him,) invaded Kuwait (over a decade ago, and has long-since withdrawn for there)…”

This is why any true patriot despises this man and knows the most important lying tyrant America must deal with is President Bush. And yes, we put in the information in the parenthesis in that last quote above because, unlike the rest of the media, we refuse to allow people to use our space to air their lies. No one ever should let the President tell the lies he does without inserting correcting information and pointing out clearly that he is lying. The rest of the media may fall prey to this game that has been the backbone of the Bush/Limbaugh rise to power – the, “You have to air our lies or you are partisan,” game – but not us here at The Moderate Independent.

You Bush/Limbaughians don’t like it? "So, what’s the difference?"

The most shocking thing about all this, of course, is that this hasn’t been top news all over the press. Honestly, they were so busy kissing the President’s butt at that point because Saddam had just been caught that they, once again, gave him a free pass. I guess that’s why M/I now exists, to air actual news and not just right-wing, Bush/Limbaughian PR about fake Latino initiatives and space programs.

Don't be surprised if this video footage ends up in a campaign ad for one of Bush's rivals.

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REFERENCE:

ABC NEWS Prime Time Live Interview, December 16, 2003.