When Media Hacks And Bush Lie

Apparently bored with Ann Coulter's tired shtick, the networks have begun showcasing a new right-wing talking head in the form of Melanie Morgan. Sadly, like most of the conservative pundits, she's either a liar or dumb. While I give it 50-50 that she's both, let's focus on the lying part.

Morgan was on MSNBC's Hardball on Tuesday night and, when asked by Chris Matthews whether she believed George W. Bush gave the country a straight story leading up to the Iraq war, said this:

"Yes, I absolutely do. I think the president from the very beginning, the run-up to the war articulated why we were there. Because we were battling a fanatical network of terrorists. He has not made weapons of mass destruction the only criteria. That‘s only what the left has redefined and revised the war as. By the way, we‘re still going to find weapons of mass destruction."

Sadly, our little Republican mouthpiece finds herself in the same position as many other conservative spokesmen these days: Either she's lying or the Bush Team is lying – one or the other. Here's Bush and his minions ramping it up for the world community when all they could talk about was Iraq's alleged WMD capability.

“[Saddam] is actively pursuing nuclear weapons at this time.”- Vice President Cheney, 3/24/02

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.” –Vice President Cheney, 8/26/02

“We do know that [Saddam] is actively pursuing a nuclear weapon.”- National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 9/10/02

“[Saddam has] amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of biological weapons, including Anthrax, botulism, toxins and possibly smallpox. He's amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of chemical weapons, including VX, Sarin and mustard gas.” --Don Rumsfeld, 9/19/02

“The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons…And according to the British government, the Iraqi regime could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes.” –President Bush, 9/26/02

“Evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program…Iraq could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year.” - President Bush, 10/7/02

“His regime has large, unaccounted-for stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons -- including VX, sarin, cyclosarin and mustard gas; anthrax, botulism, and possibly smallpox -- and he has an active program to acquire and develop nuclear weapons.” – Don Rumsfeld, 1/20/03

“Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent.” –President Bush, 1/28/03

“There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more…Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agent. That is enough agent to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets.” – Colin Powell, 2/5/03

“Iraq has at least seven mobile factories for the production of biological agents - equipment mounted on trucks and rails to evade discovery.” –President Bush, 2/8/03

“We believe Saddam has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.” – Vice President Cheney, 3/16/03

“The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder.” – President Bush, 3/19/03

“We know where the [WMD] are.” - Don Rumsfeld, 3/30/03

Other than WMD, the reality-based community knows there was only one other subject that Bush continually pushed – Saddam Hussein's links to Osama bin Laden and the events of September 11.

Matthews asked Morgan about the Bush administration's claims that there was a Saddam Hussein connection to 9/11 or, at the very least, a link between Iraq and al Qaeda. Here's what she spewed in response:

"Yes. There's a connection there. The reason we're in Iraq is because the planes flying into the World Trade Towers, and al Qaeda was definitely connected to a bunch of terrorists who are operating out of Iraq under the direction of Saddam Hussein and his general at the time, General Kasan who confirmed to me that 4,000 terrorists who were related to al Qaeda involved in al Qaeda, were working within the Iraqi country. The country of Iraq."

Sorry, Ms. Morgan. Your president contradicts you there too.

"We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11 attacks," said George W. Bush on September 17, 2003.

Of course, he's a liar too because, in September 2002, Bush said “You can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam.” A year later, in 2003, Bush said “There's no question that Saddam Hussein had al Qaeda ties.”

OK, so my original premise of saying either Morgan or Bush had to be lying was flawed. That's the problem when trying to reconcile the statements of elected Republicans and their hacks in the media: How does one discern the truth, when everyone you're listening to is a liar?