According to CNN, President Bush used the term "Al Qaeda" 95 times in his windy 29 minute speech today to the poor soldiers at Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina. (Who hates the troops again?)
In case people still fail to understand the nuance of the current situation, he said, "There's a good reason they are called 'Al Qaeda in Iraq.' They are Al Qaeda. And they are in Iraq." I'm glad he cleared that up.
Here's how Rush listeners heard about it:
RUSH: Can you imagine, ladies and gentlemen, how this irritates the kook fringe base of the Democrat Party and Pelosi and Harry Reid? They are trying to disrupt George W. Bush's confidence; they're trying to shred it; they're trying to get everybody in the country isolated from him, including other Republicans, and he doesn't care. Second bite here.THE PRESIDENT: Some note that Al-Qaeda in Iraq did not exist until the US invasion and argue that it is a problem of our own making. The argument follows the flawed logic that terrorism is caused by American actions.
RUSH: Right on, right on.
THE PRESIDENT: Iraq's not the reason that the terrorists are at war with us.
RUSH: Right on, right on.
THE PRESIDENT: We were not in Iraq when the terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in 1993.
RUSH: Right on, right on.
THE PRESIDENT: We were not in Iraq when they attacked our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
RUSH: Right on, right on.
THE PRESIDENT: We were not in Iraq when they attacked the USS Cole in 2000, and we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001. Our action to remove Saddam Hussein did not start the terrorist violence. An American withdrawal from Iraq would not end it.
RUSH: Amen. The only thing that I know many of you are saying, "Where's this been? We're all saying it. It needs to have been said by the president." He said it today. It was at Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina. Here's the last bite.
THE PRESIDENT: Our troops are now working to replicate the success in Anbar and other parts of the country. Our brave men and women are taking risks, and they're showing courage, and we're making progress for the security of our citizens and the peace of the world. We must give General Petraeus and his troops the time and the resources they need so they can defeat Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
RUSH: (clapping). Right on, right on. As long as he's at the helm, that will happen.
It's kind of ironic to hear the president commenting on his critic's logic, when his entire line of argument is completely illogical. (And it's kind of creepy to hear Rush saying "right on, right on" like he's Barry White or something.) But what would one expect from the president whose country was attacked by terrorists and then proceeded to invade another one that had nothing to do with the terrorist attack? Logic has never been his strong suit.
Sadly, those Rush listeners are getting the message. The New York Times reported today that "Americans' support for the initial invasion of Iraq has risen somewhat as the White House has continued to ask the public to reserve judgment about the war until at least the fall. In a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted over the weekend, 42 percent of Americans said that looking back, taking military action in Iraq was the right thing to do, while 51 percent said the United States should have stayed out of Iraq." Bush seems to think this has to do with his recent al-Qaida "revelations" so they have the talk shock troops out there flogging his speech like he was Cicero.
The truth is that he said nothing today that he hasn't been saying for five years. It's a bit of a stretch to assume that another rousing speech from Bush, robotically mouthing "Al Qaeda" over and over again is going to turn the tide. Every time he opens his mouth these days, his approval rating goes down. And the same NY Times poll that Rush gushes over also says this:
Americans are divided over whether the Bush administration's discussion of terrorism reflects a genuine concern or is a political tool. Half of those polled say the administration talks about the threat of terrorism to gain a political advantage; 39 percent say it is a genuine issue.
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