BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

My daddy would have said that President Bush must be filled with truth “because it has never come out.”  And, it seems that a CNN report would confirm it.  According to the CNN Report:

President Bush and his top aides publicly made 935 false statements about the security risk posed by Iraq in the two years following September 11, 2001, according to a study released Tuesday by two nonprofit journalism groups.

I’m not really surprised by the disclosure.  I suppose I’m just surprised that anyone took the time to count them.  But, perhaps it’s time someone did.

So, what does this tell us about the “State of the Nation”?  It’s pretty sad.  No one is going to say that the 9-11 tragedy was easy on anyone.  It wasn’t and to pretend otherwise would be beyond dishonest.  I can even understand false statements being made and wild allegations being tossed about right after the attack.  When there is an unknown, there is always speculation and misinformation.  Let’s face it, most of us were shocked beyond anything this nation could have imagined.  Personally, I felt the pangs of sadness and terror for several months following the attacks on the Trade Center buildings.  Certainly, those who were closer to the actual attacks, either physically or emotionally, continue to feel the shock and the ache of loss. 

In the days following the attacks, the nation as a whole needed a leader to guide us through the difficult times.  And, for a time it seemed that President Bush spoke for all of us.  We trusted him.  We looked to him for guidance.  We expected him to lead us towards healing.  That’s what a president is supposed to do.  Like the shepherd in the field, when the sheep get spooked, it’s up to the shepherd and his watchdogs to gather the lambs and keep them safe.  As it turns out, our shepherd and his watchdogs led us not towards healing and safety, but towards the propagation of danger and terror.  The path he laid out before us led us straight into war.

Some of us were willing to be led into Afghanistan in pursuit of Osama bin Laden.  There was a spirit of patriotism that overwhelmed us all and like a kid who had found his courage we were ready to stand up to the bully who had knocked down a part of our country and had tried to smudge our pride.  Osama was center point on the nation’s bulls eye.  We rallied behind our leader, a nation united, seeking to hit back at the man or men who had led the attack on America.

And, then… well, that’s when things started to change.  We felt comfortable being led.  It was one of those rare patriotic periods when tears would well up in America’s eyes when a flag passed.  We were torn between sadness and anger.  We were easy to lead, drunk on the idea of revenge.  We were weak in the hands of Bush and Cheney.  To question seemed almost unpatriotic.  But, a few of us began to sober up and stopped drinking from the ever filled cup of lies.

The real agenda emerged from the hearts and minds of political power.  Six years and 935 falsehoods later we have forgotten Osama bin Laden and for the most part we have forgotten the soldiers in Afghanistan.  We have broken and bought Iraq and are bogged down in the quagmire of a Bush war that has no end. 

Well, I’ll go back to something my daddy told me.  Be suspicisious of any man who doesn’t welcome questions about what he’s doing.  That just means he doesn’t know or he’s hiding something.  (Or, both?)