"... for political purposes."

[BobcatJH]

Hypocrisy, like anything else, is a matter of degree. There are minor hypocrisies. There are major hypocrisies. To that end, you've got Republicans like Tom DeLay - who decided to end his ailing father's life - stepping into the Terri Schiavo matter. You've got so-called people of faith saying things as hateful, if not more, than the overseas "evil-doers" they so criticize. And you've got the Bush White House, which still employs walking national security threat Karl Rove, threatening to prosecute newspapers for printing leaked classified information. But the latest, and perhaps greatest, example of these major hypocrisies came Tuesday, when President Bush accused those leaking portions of the grim National Intelligence Estimate of doing so "for political purposes." Funny he should say so, considering it is his administration refusing to release a second, far more distressing NIE until after the November elections.

Speaking Tuesday alongside President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, the president found himself confronted with an opening question about the leaked portions of the first NIE. Asked Associated Press reporter and popular right-wing target Jennifer Loven, "Even after hearing that one of the major conclusions of the National Intelligence Estimate in April was that the Iraq war has fueled terror growth around the world, why have you continued to say that the Iraq war has made this country safer?" After calling those who "have guessed what's in the report and have concluded that going into Iraq was a mistake" "naive", the president then directly contradicted the NIE's core finding - that our presence in Iraq is tied directly to an increased terrorist threat - by saying, "I think it's a mistake for people to believe that going on the offense against people that want to do harm to the American people makes us less safe." Then, as he announced that he was going to declassify portions of the NIE, Bush said, "And here we are, coming down the stretch in an election campaign, and it's on the front page of your newspapers. Isn't that interesting? Somebody has taken it upon themselves to leak classified information for political purposes." Further, that leakers did so "to create confusion in the minds of the American people" and "to confuse the American people about the nature of this enemy."

Though it's hard to gain any new knowledge from those remarks, once you wade through the swamp of phony straw men and empty rhetoric, you arrive at this conclusion: The president thinks you're an idiot. For several reasons, really. The dumbest president - perhaps ever - thinks you're too stupid to draw obvious conclusions from a since-declassified document that concisely restates what we've long known, that our being in Iraq has made us less safe. He thinks you're too stupid to realize that the administration's many tragic missteps will contribute more to an electoral defeat this November than will any newspaper articles. And he thinks you're too stupid to realize the spectacular hypocrisy in his accusation that those who leaked portions of the NIE did so "for political purposes." Think about that. The party of outing a covert CIA operative - one working on tracking the flow of WMD to and from Iran - simply to smear a prominent administration critic. The party of keeping Americans safe saying that a foiled terror plot was, in the weeks before September 11, "going to play big" and that Democratic candidates this fall wouldn't "look as appealing" as a result. The party of our opponents are weak supporting amnesty for those who would torture, mutilate and murder our troops.

The president's accusation, in the face of those examples, is bad enough. But Bush has reached an unprecedented level of White House hypocrisy considering how his administration appears to be handling a reported second NIE, this one providing an even more downbeat Iraq assessment. Democratic Rep. Jane Harman revealed its existence Tuesday, asking that the "languishing" report, a report sources say is being "intentionally slowed" by the administration, be released prior to the November elections. Though those at the Harman event noted that the document is not officially an NIE despite its being prepared by the organization whose main purpose is to assemble NIEs, one former Defense Department official can vouch for its dark message. Lawrence Korb, now of the Center for American Progress, has talked about the report with those who have seen it and told TPMmuckraker that "It's a very bleak picture of what's going on in Iraq." With this - and the claim by the president that those leaking the bad news are doing so "for political purposes" - does it surprise you that, when forced to acknowledge the report's existence, White House Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend told reporters that, yes, it will be available - after the election? "The timing has got nothing to do the election," Townsend said. Sure it doesn't, just like George Allen didn't know what he was saying when he called his opponent's staffer "Macaca".

While Newsweek corroborates Townsend's claims, reporters Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball also report the existence of a second document, "an up-to-date assessment of the progress - or lack thereof - that the government of Iran is making in its alleged efforts to develop nuclear weapons." One wonders, taking into account the administration's posturing as related to Iran, when this report will see the light of day. Given this administration's track record of stymying the release of news that contradicts their always-rosy view of affairs foreign and domestic, I'm guessing we won't learn about Iran's progress in the development of nuclear weapons until after our attacks there have begun. Or, should portions of that report leak, I'm sure we'll again be treated to a sermon from this president on the importance of not twisting cherry-picked intelligence for political purposes. Because that's never happened before. Hopefully by then, when the still-in-progress portrait of a failing administration is nearly complete, the president's protestations won't be met with such indifference. But hey, the president's base seems willing to excuse torture, so who am I to expect a reverse in course after the next disastrous step this administration takes?

Every time I hear a White House staffer or prominent Republican accuse the Democrats of acting solely for political purposes, the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard that has been audible since Bush took office grows louder. Because, as you know, this administration does everything for political purposes. From staging the president's personal appearances to controlling his interactions with the military to holding photo opportunities with lifesavers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, this White House appears far more concerned with stagecraft than statecraft. But remember, an equally effective administration tactic has been its ability to project its own faults onto its opponents. Hence the image of the angry left, the left that doesn't support the troops, the left that puts politics above national security when, in fact, not only is the opposite the case, but also that the original statements more closely characterize the Republican Party. So should this latest attempt by the president to accuse the Democrats of possessing his own faults surprise anyone? No, just as it shouldn't surprise anyone that the content of these reports in question is so grim. Because what's apparent is that the worse things get, the worse this administration responds, especially as an election nears. But never, of course, for political purposes.

[kentuck]

1. They've captured the truth and put it in a steel vault...

Our mission is to free it or plan its escape.