Okay, so the Bush strategy to avoid accountability for the debacle that is the Iraq War is now clear. It is to blame everyone else. This is not surprising since it’s been his strategy for the past 4+ years.
9/11? That was Clinton’s fault.
Bad Economy? Clinton’s high taxes.
Deficit? That’s because of 9/11 and the war.
Social Security—the Democrats are obstructionists (nevermind that polls continually showed that a majority of American’s disapproved of Bush plan, they just don’t know what’s good for them).
[Brief rant and poll below the fold]
Now, Bush blames the Iraq War on the Democrats. It’s an interesting argument to make. On the one hand, Bush says that it was right to go into Iraq—he’s been saying that all along. But now, he’s trying to fix blame to the Democrats for the mess we are in over there. So, if there is blame to be fixed, doesn’t that imply that a mistake was made?
And seriously, if there’s blame to fix, doesn’t that blame have to fix to the person who made the decision to go to war? Bush wants us all to believe he’s a strong leader and decisive and all that shit. By blaming Congress for the war, isn’t he really saying that it wasn’t his decision? Now we all know that his story is bullshit, but how can Bush’s supporters not see that the man really has no idea what to do at any given time? I don’t get it.
Bush’s defense seems to break down to this:
- I made the right decision to go to war with Iraq because Saddam had WMD;
- The decision to go to war in Iraq was the right decision even in the absence of WMD because we are bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq;
- If it was the wrong decision to go to war in Iraq, it was based upon incorrect information that others provided;
- If the wrong decision was made, knowing that the information provided by others may not be accurate it wasn’t me that made the decision.
It reminds me of the old lawyers’ story about the farmer who sues his neighbor because the neighbor’s goat ate his patch of cabbages worth $100. The neighbor raises the following defenses:
- The farmer had no cabbages;
- If he had any cabbages, they were not eaten;
- If the cabbages were eaten, it was not by a goat;
- If the cabbages were eaten by a goat, it wasn’t my goat;
- If the cabbages were eaten by my goat, he was insane.
Bush is on defense #4 right now. The way things are going for him; he’ll only be left with the insanity defense.