Two days ago, Gore's book was, as could have been expected, a hot topic of conversation during the White House Q&A with Tony Snow. In an attempt to fend of the fact that President Bush and VP Cheney have, directly and indirectly [and repeatedly], tried to link Saddam Hussein and 9/11, Snow makes the remark that fact-checkers should take another look at the information in the book.
To be exact, here were Snow's own words (video available):
And what the vice president is doing, it’s been tried by a lot of other people, which is to take something the president hasn’t said, expose it as a, quote, lie, and then beat him up for it.
The president told the truth. So I don’t know. Perhaps — I don’t know if they’re going to do a reprinting of the book to try to get the facts straight. The fact-checkers may have to take a look at it. These are highly complex publishing issues and I can’t be an expert on them.
Perhaps Mr. Snow should take another look at this article. And this one. And this one. Here's a direct quote just for good measure:
"After Sept. 11, America decided that we would fight the war on terror on the offense, and that we would confront threats before they fully materialized. Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States of America. America is safer today because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. Now, it's time for the Iraqi leaders to do their part and finish the job of forming a unity government."
And that was in April 2006...years after it had been proven that there was no link. If that's not deception, as Gore calls it, I don't know what is.
Later that night though, Gore struck back. In a conference call with bloggers, he was asked to respond to Snow's comments and here's what Al had to say:
"This book, unlike the President’s State of the Union Address, has been fact-checked."
Ouch. Short, powerful, and right to the point. Democrats take note: Gore responded the same day of Snow's comment and held no punches - make the fools out to be the fools they are. This is a man we need to run for President.