Incendiary Advice

During yesterday's speech at Cleveland's City Club, Bush takes an unscripted question (I hope he does more of this; it's fun to watch foot in mouth disease in action) regarding his rationale for war with Iraq.

The questioner states Bush's three rationales for invading Iraq never held-up under scrutiny: the threat of WMD's; the claim that Saddam had sponsored the 9/11 terrorists; and that Saddam had purchased nuclear materials from Niger.

Bush interrupts the guy to state "I was very careful never to say Hussein ordered the attacks on America."

He also states that he never said there was a connection between 9/11 and Hussein.

Olbermann nails him on this, showing Bush's State of the Union 2003 speech, where he says just that.

Olbermann:

Olbermann: Then that must have been a different George W. Bush who gave the State of the Union Address on January 28th, 2003.

Bush [from SOTU]: Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists... including members of al Qaeda.... Before September the 11th many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein could be contained.

Olbermann: Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda in the same sentence, separated by seven words. Two sentences later, September the 11th and Saddam Hussein, separated by six words.

In a moment, [we will] discuss the fundamental remaining question, who does the President think he's f'n kidding?

Can I take this moment to ask Keith Olbermann to marry me? :)

Click the underlined text above to see the video from Crooks and Liars.

What exactly is Bush admitting when he says he was "very careful never to state that?" Conscious efforts at creating plausible deniability, going in. That's about the gist of it.