"Soul Searching" And Other Lies Told By The W, Rove And Co

Okay, I love Helen Thomas. She is one of the smartest people in the Whitehouse press pool. But it is astonishing how big a lie Tony the Snow job will toss at the American people in order to asuage the guilt they should be feeling about Iraq, but undoubtedly are not. Have a gander at Thursday's press briefing dish of horse manure:

Go ahead, Helen.

Q After a week of soul-searching -- I mean, not soul-searching -- I mean briefings the President has had, has he done any soul searching in terms of policy towards Iraq? The highest fatalities in July and so forth, so there is an increase in violence. Are any policies changing?

Good question. We don't necessarily care much about how much soul searching a man can do especially since it appears that his soul is eternaly tarnished and destined for hell. What we are really concered is this: Is the president going to take us in a different direction in Iraq, are we headed straight down the same path to the toilet bowl flushing us down with the Iraqis?

MR. SNOW: Well, I've tried to -- the answer is first without -- I will -- without having cleared this with the President, I think it's safe to say that any President in a time of war does constant soul-searching because he understands the human toll of sending people into harm's way. And any President who has held the office will tell you the same thing. It is a deeply personal and very difficult thing to do.

I don't think it was altogether that difficult for the president at all. Just witness the amount of vacation days he has had since he took office...clearing brush, mountain biking, etc...

But Tony continues:

The other thing the President does is -- he wants realistic assessments of what's going on, and he wants the ability to adjust. It is an absolute fact that, in a time of war, you're going to try things that don't work. And what you have to do is to figure out how to define the proper formulation of things that are going to work.

The President is not going to walk away from Iraq. It is central to winning the war on terror. It is central to sending a message to terrorist organizations. It is central to creating a democracy in the region.

What happens when the realistic assessments goes contrary to current policy? It seems like there is a disjuncter between what is happening on the ground and the W, Rove and Co's policy and action pursued in Iraq if you ask me.

The discourse continues:

Q Willing to sacrifice?

MR. SNOW: Well, as they continue to exhume and now put together exhibits in Iraq of the hundreds of thousands who were killed by Saddam Hussein, there is still the hope that was expressed by more than 12.5 million people who went out and voted at some risk to their lives, but they think it's worthwhile.

And if we could do this in a totally bloodless way, that would be great, but terrorists, as I pointed out before, they look at human carnage as a political asset. We look at it the different way. We mourn the loss of lives. We don't look at that as a way of advancing our ideology. We look upon every human life as possessing unique and independent dignity, and we wish that none of them had to be sacrificed, and we hope that we're precisely working toward the day in which you're not going to have to worry about mass graves in Iraq, where you're not going to have to worry about sectarian violence, and that the primary concern is whether their taxes are too high and whether they're getting what they need from their government.

Here's the problem and how the lies unravel for me:

• I don't think the mourn the loss of lives. The President hasn't attended a single funeral for some one who was KIA in Iraq.


• I don't think they look upon every human life as possessing unique and independent dignity. How many Iraqi civilians have been killed in the name of this political process?


• I think the mentioning of mass graves in Iraq is a diversion.

There are many more things to be concerned about as the W, Rove and Co digs themselves a rhetorical grave, but what I hope for most of all is a time when we are no longer looking for these people to take us out of this mess...for they are expert at getting us into messes, but fools for getting us out.

Here's the proof that we are doomed under this administration:

It's just not possible. But on the other hand, you also cannot be a President in a wartime and not realize that you've got to stay the course.