Analysis: Republican "Personal Responsibility" and Re-Writing History

Analysis:

Bush is showing desperation in his attempts at covering the fact he lied the nation to war in Iraq. In his usual Rovian manner, George W. Bush, Forty-Third President of the United States, rather than confronting his behavior, policies, and yes, lies, has instead taken to assaulting his critics and the non-believers. The Republican Party bills itself, as being for "personal responsibility" and yet, five years into Bush's reign; eleven years since Republicans took over the House of Representatives; and three years into Republican control of the Senate - and still not a single Republican has accepted responsibility for any of their actions.

Tom DeLay refuses to accept responsibility for his illegal and unethical Congressional, and election related actions. Most recently, DeLay has gone so far as to blame the minority Democrats, for the Republican congresses mismanagement of the nation's finances.

Bill Frist refuses to admit his video "diagnosis" of Terry Schiavo was dangerous, absurd, ridiculous, misleading, and ignorant. Frist also refuses to admit his supposed blind trust wasn't blind at all, and that he had in fact and deed participated in insider trading.

As an aside to this analysis, it should be crystal clear by now, to any person willing to accept reality, that when Republicans speak of personal responsibility, they don't mean "personal responsibility." The mechanism, intent, and purpose of the Republican version of "personal responsibility" is this: It is simply code for supporting institutional oppression, and a "gimme" to their extremist base, which consists primarily of a large minority of Southern traditionalists. When Republicans say "personal responsibility" they mean black, poor, disenfranchised, and otherwise less fortunate members of society are to be left to fend for themselves, because it makes "good political sense."

Then of course, there is George W. Bush's inability to accept responsibility for anything he has done in his lifetime. Whenever one of his many businesses failed, he simply asked his father for more money, so he could try another failed business. If his father didn't have the money, there was always his Saudi Royal Family, family connections. Now, as President, whenever his actions cause him trouble, Bush is quick to blame everybody save for his own pathological need to lie.

The New York Times did a "better late than never," but very good article outlining Bush's lies leading up to the Iraq war, and why his attempts now, at covering those lies won't work. Here is the laundry list of Bush lies, and an associated rebuttal:

Bush's claims "about Saddam Hussein's weapons were old, some more than 10 years old. Nothing was fresher than about five years, except reports that later proved to be fanciful."

As for Bush's insistence now, that congress saw the "same intelligence" he had: "The National Intelligence Estimate presented to Congress a few days before the vote on war was sanitized to remove dissent and make conjecture seem like fact."

Bush's insistence now, and in the past that Clinton saw the same data he had, and came to the same conclusion Bush had is also false: "Mr. Clinton looked at the data and concluded that inspections and pressure were working - a view we now know was accurate."

Republicans and Bush are quick to point out France and Germany's intelligence reports, but also, as was the case with Clinton, forget to point out this: "France, Russia and Germany said war was not justified."

As for the Bush administration's infamous aluminum tubes story: "That was dismissed at the time by analysts with real expertise."

The New York Times points out: "The Bush administration was also alone in making the absurd claim that Iraq was in league with Al Qaeda and somehow connected to the 9/11 terrorist attacks."

What about the Bush administration's -- especially Dick Cheney's -- claim about Atta meeting Saddam's people in Prague: "The supposed trip to Prague by Mohamed Atta, a report that was disputed before the war and came from an unreliable drunk."

Condi Rice was made famous for her insistence, picked-up of course by others in the administration, that Iraq trained Qaeda members in the use of chemical and biological weapons: "Before the war, the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded that this was a deliberate fabrication by an informer."

Bush claims now, that neither he, nor anyone in his administration pressured the intelligence community: "The Bush administration made what it wanted to hear crystal clear and kept sending reports back to [intelligence] be redone until it got those answers [it wanted]"

Then there is this: "Richard Kerr, a former deputy director of central intelligence, said in 2003 that there was 'significant pressure on the intelligence community to find evidence that supported a connection' between Iraq and Al Qaeda. The C.I.A. ombudsman told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the administration's 'hammering' on Iraq intelligence was harder than he had seen in his 32 years at the agency."

Summary:

"Personal responsibility:" Republicans like to toss the phrase around, but they certainly aren't capable of living it. From Bush to Frist to DeLay and even their leading propagandist Rush Limbaugh, and his continuing need to fight his drug charges, Republicans avoid taking responsibility for anything they've done, said or ever will do. Today, as Bush tries to rewrite history by insisting his detractors are themselves rewriting history, the American people are given front row seats to the lip-service Republicans pay to "personal responsibility" while they themselves avoid it, as if it were the bird flu.

Unlike times past however, as Bush assaults those that disagree with his revisionist history, he isn't only attacking the evil "Liberal" Democrats, but is in fact accusing the American people themselves of "rewriting" history. He must be, because the Democrats really haven't had much to say about Bush's many lies, it is the American people that figured it out, no thanks to the mainstream media. It is the American people that believe Bush lied and now, attempts to rewrite history while avoiding personal responsibility for those many lies.

Sources:

New York Times

Iraq on the Record

End Analysis