So, 6 years after becoming President, George W. Bush offers "an amazing moment of reflection" (as Chris "Tweety-bird" Matthews put it).
I've put together a few historical instances of when George and his administration were not exactly so "amazing" with their reflectiveness. Perhaps you'll remember a few.
And "Mr. President",
we don't want anymore of your amazing disingenuous moments of reflectiveness.
We want you to and the rest of this administration to resign and face proper justice.
SEPTEMBER, 2000:
Some may remember this one. As early as September, 2000, Bush had the chance to show some character.
Just before a campaign speech in Illinois, Mr Bush said to his running mate Dick Cheney: "There's Adam Clymer, major league asshole from the New York Times."
...
The Republican presidential candidate George W Bush has said he regrets the fact that people heard him make an insulting comment about a journalist, but he refused to apologise.
But chose not to.
JULY, 2003:
Sixteen days before President Bush's January 28, 2003, State of the Union address in which he said that the US learned from British intelligence that Iraq had attempted to acquire uranium from Africa - an explosive claim that helped pave the way to war - the State Department told the CIA that the intelligence the uranium claims were based upon were forgeries, according to a newly declassified State Department memo.
The revelation of the warning from the closely guarded State Department memo is the first piece of hard evidence and the strongest to date that the Bush administration manipulated and ignored intelligence information in their zeal to win public support for invading Iraq.
The memo says: "On January 12, 2003," the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) "expressed concerns to the CIA that the documents pertaining to the Iraq-Niger deal were forgeries."
There was no apology from the Bush administration. However, ABC news certainly apologized...
The Post did not say that Bush knew what he was saying was false. But ABC News did during a report on "Good Morning America," and McClellan demanded an apology and an on-air retraction. ABC News said later in a clarification on its Web site that Charles Gibson had erred. McClellan said he had received an apology.
MAY, 2004:
In the public session, Rice was unyielding in her defense of the Bush administration, insisting it had done all it could to thwart terrorism.
And she offered no apology to 9/11 family members, something her one-time subordinate, former White House counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke, did in his appearance two weeks ago.
APRIL, 2004:
Bush is confronted with the "m" word for the first time, publicly:
WASHINGTON - American President George Bush grimaced, sighed, rambled and chuckled under his breath on Tuesday, before saying he could not think of a single mistake he had made since the September 11 attacks.
...
"I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with answer, but it hadn't yet."
OCTOBER, 2004:
Bush was not as reflective of his mistakes during the presidential debates in 2004, either:
In a telling moment at the end of the second presidential debate, a middle-aged swinging voter called Linda asked George Bush, of all the "thousands of decisions" he took during his presidency, could he name three that were mistakes, and explain what he did to correct them?
...
Mr Bush was thrown for a second. "I'm human," he admitted. But he quickly recovered and launched into a defence of the Iraq war. "When they ask about mistakes, that's what they're talking about," he told the audience in St Louis, Missouri. "They're trying to say, 'did you make a mistake going into Iraq?' And the answer is absolutely not. It's the right decision."
SEPTEMBER, 2005:
No apology here, either. But the decider DID say he was responsible.
Four years after the frightening experience of September 11th, Americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency. When the federal government fails to meet such an obligation, I as president am responsible for the problem, and for the solution.
I think it's safe to say that this president fell short in terms of a "solution".
APRIL, 2006:
And of course, who can forget the "Rockwell moment".
"I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration," Taylor said, standing in a balcony seat and looking down at Mr. Bush on stage. "And I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and grace to be ashamed of yourself."
Mr. Bush defended the National Security Administration's surveillance program, saying he authorized the program to protect the country.
"You said 'would I apologize for that?'" Mr. Bush told him. "The answer is absolutely not."