NOT even close to "technically" true!!!

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

from yahoo:


Administration officials said Bush's statement was technically correct since he was simply saying that British intelligence said something was true. In the Jan. 28 speech, Bush said, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

No, no, no! To say that so-and-so "has learned" such-and-such is to assert -- not suggest, not imply, not throw out as a possibility -- that whatever the source "has learned" IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE! Sam Donaldson had a great riff on this yesterday. He said if your neighbor tells you, "The guy across the street has learned that your house is on fire," then you'd be positive. But if your neighbor says, "The guy across the street says your house is on fire," you've really got no sense of the accuracy of the statement.

Every friggin' word of the SOTU is gone over w/a fine-tooth comb. The hole has just been dug deeper.

[Friar]

1. good point

the difference between "said" and "learned" is a significant distinction.

[Zero Gravitas]

4. It depends

It depends on what the meaning of "learned" is.

[quilp]

2. Jim Hoagland used this WH defense on Charlie Rose!!

And Rose didn't challenge him. What is a Washington Post reporter doing regurgitating a WH line? Either they don't get it, and anyone that dumb should be fired. Or they do get it and are purposfully misleading the public. For which they should be fired. I E-Mailed Rose.

[quilp]

3. I like that. It takes even that stupid defense away.

Donaldson must have got a new life since he left the "Sunday Morning Republican Love In".

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. From: Secretary Rumsfeld Media Stakeout following ABC This Week

http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20030713-secdef0382.html


RUMSFELD: Well first of all, I think you phrased it not quite precisely, you said, “mistake in intelligence.” It is not clear -- first of all the statement, I’m told -- that the statement in the President’s speech is correct, not inaccurate -- the way it was phrased. The mistake was having it in there, not because it was known that it was wrong, but because it didn’t rise to the stature or status of a presidential speech, and Director Tenet is a terrific public servant, and a very talented person, put out a statement that answered the whole question and it seems to me, the President, and he (inaudible) clarified that. The British say they believe that it is accurate, and that may very well be the case. We will just have to wait and see.


How can someone be such a lying, incoherent, babbling, con-artist and be allowed to be in charge of anything, no less the DOD?