Today's Washington Post carries
a piece about the latest "Bushisms". They're presented as bizarre, humorous manglings of language, but one of them is much more than that:
"As you know, we don't have relationships with Iran," Bush said. "I mean, that's -- ever since the late '70s, we have no contacts with them, and we've totally sanctioned them. In other words, there's no sanctions -- you can't -- we're out of sanctions."
This is not a "Bushism" -- unless that term is amended to refer to brazen falsehoods (maybe it should be).
Bush's statement is either a bold-faced lie, or a stunning example of historical amnesia. His father was vice-president during a period of extensive, secret, and illegal dealings between the Reagan administration and the Iranian mullahs. Several people were convicted of felonies as a result.
Of course, Bush's father pardoned those who were convicted -- and Bush himself rehired most of them. Now, apparently, the entire Iran-Contra scandal has gone down the memory hole.
Why is our media not drawing more attention to Bush's false statements? (See also his repeated explanation that he went to war against Iraq because Saddam Hussein wouldn't let the UN inspectors in.)