I'm not sure I understand how this is bad reporting.

They didn't say that the administration lied, that they knew the statements were false, or that they knew their campaign to galvanize public opinion was based on false pretenses.

They merely passed on what the report said: 1. Statements were false. 2. Those false statements were the basis for the administration's campaign.
Pete Guither | Homepage | 01.23.08 - 11:35 am | #

True - they never explicitly say that he lied, at least in the snippets posted here. However, it's no accident that they use phrases like "orchestrated campaign" and "methodically propagated." They're trying to passively paint a picture of Bush, and not as a victim of bad information.

The sentiment of the post certainly holds true. Some people hate Bush so much that they're just sure he's somehow the cause of everything from hurricanes to erectile dysfunction.
guy | 01.23.08 - 4:58 pm | #

Guy, those phrases weren't the words of the AP reporter. In both cases, they were quoting from the study. Blame the reporter for deciding to report on those studies, or blame the studies, but don't blame the reporter for reporting.

To me, there are two issues. One, I believe Bush lied. Knowingly, actively. Repeatedly. I believed so at the time beyond the shadow of a doubt, and I've never seen any reason to believe that he wasn't lying. And the techniques used in administration speeches (the constant juxtaposition of 911 and Saddam, for example) make it hard to argue that his falsehoods were unknowing.

However, even if it's true that he didn't knowingly lie, he constantly pushed information that was at best, unsupported conclusions and intelligence assumptions in an "orchestrated campaign to galvanize public opinion." It was clear beyond a doubt that his intent (and that of the administration as a whole) was to push the line about WMD's and Saddam's danger no matter what.

Seeing the numbers of times that such statements were used help explain why so many people (the FOX news crowd) became so convinced that down was up.

The bigger fault really lies in the "liberal" media, which failed to do their watchdog job and demand better answers, better information.

And no, I don't hate Bush nor do I think he's the cause of hurricanes or erectile dysfunction (I'm doing quite nicely thank you very much). But is he responsible for getting us into a war in Iraq? Uh, yeah.
Pete Guither | Homepage | 01.23.08 - 7:28 pm | #