Appearance is Everything

Bush on Meet the Press today:

BUSH: I think, if I might remind you that, in my language, I called it a grave and gathering threat. But I don't want to get into a word contest. But what I do want to share with you is my sentiment at the time. There was no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein was a danger to America. No doubt. RUSSERT: In what way? BUSH: Well, because he had the capacity to have a weapon, make a weapon -- we thought he had weapons. The international community thought he had weapons, but he had the capacity to make a weapon. And then let that weapon fall into the hands of a shadowy terrorist network. It's important for people to understand the context in which I made a decision here in the Oval Office. I'm dealing with a world in which we have gotten struck by terrorists with airplanes, and we get intelligence saying that there is, you know, we want to harm America. And the worst nightmare scenario for any president is to realize that these kind of terrorist networks had the capacity to arm up with some of these deadly weapons and then strike us. And the president of the United States' most solemn responsibility is to keep this country secure. And the man was a threat, and we dealt with him, and we dealt with him because we cannot hope for the best. We can't say, Let's don't deal with Saddam Hussein, let's hope he changes his stripes, or let's trust in the good will of Saddam Hussein. You know, let's let us, you know, kind of, try to contain him. Containment doesn't work with a man who is a madman. And remember, Tim, he had used weapons against his own people. RUSSERT: But can you launch a preemptive war without ironclad, absolute intelligence that he had weapons of mass destruction? BUSH: Let me take a step back for a second, and there is no such thing necessarily in a dictatorial regime of ironclad, absolutely solid evidence. The evidence I had was the best possible evidence that he had a weapon. RUSSERT: But it may have been wrong. BUSH: Well, but what wasn't wrong was the fact that he had the ability to make a weapon. That wasn't wrong.

Tying Saddam to 9-11, as usual. And Bush will keep doing it as long as enough Americans continue to believe it. Look out, Kerry, because a lot of Americans continue to allow themselves to be fooled by appearance rather than facts, so you'd better spend a lot of your energy on protecting your appearance or you'll end up like Dean following his scream. Although virtually nothing Bush said in the interview was true with regard to the facts, a lot of people are going to swoon over the fact that he was man enough to confront his "accusers", and that gives the appearance of a fighter, someone who cares, and thus someone who you can trust. Relying on the truth in the election just won't cut it in this day and age.

It will be interesting to see how Bush retains his job this November, because there is no way Democrats can mount a concerted effort to convince Americans that Bush no longer appears qualified to remain. After all, we are a forgiving and optimistic people, and we tend to give a second chance to those who fail. Why? Because each of us has, at one time or another, been given a second chance at something important and subsequently succeeded. So gee, maybe Bush will learn his lesson and right his ways. (And maybe all disease and poverty will disappear next week.)

By the way, did anyone notice how Bush talked about terrorists with WMD being a threat, at the same time talking about the terrorists who used our own planes for 9-11 (armed only with box cutters). This contradiction of course has been spoken by Bush et al. countless times, nevertheless the American media has yet to discuss it.