From time to time, Ill read something so absolutely incredible (or just incredibly stupid) that I just have to look into it further to verify its accuracy.

Occasionally what Ive read turns out to be exaggerated, taken out of context or simply unverifiable  thereby confirming my initial skepticism. More often than not, however, it turns out that the excerpt that Ive read is 100 per cent accurate and truly reflects the context in which it was said. Recently, Ive been doing a lot of shaking my head about the lack of discussion that most of these remarks generate.

The website for The New Republic magazine contains an excerpt from George W. Bushs press conference of July 30, 2003. Bush was answering a question about the continuing stagnation of the American economy, and he provided the following bit of historical revisionism:

The stock market started to decline in March of 2000. Then the first quarter of 2001 was a recession, and then we got attacked on 9/11, and then corporate scandal started to bubble up to the surface which created a lack of confidence in the system. And then we had the drum beat to war. I remember on our TV screens — I’m not suggesting which network did this, but it said: “March to war” every day from last summer until the spring: “March to war, march to war, march.” That’s not a very conducive environment for people to take risks when they hear “march to war” all the time.

I located a full transcript of the press conference on the New York Times website. Yes, Bush actually did utter those words.

The fact that he was entirely responsible for this “not very conducive environment” (not to mention being implicated in many of the corporate scandals to which he also alludes) seems to be entirely lost on Bush. And, for all his criticism of the media, I didnt see anyone else pick up on this whopper of a statement.

Bush is being given as free a ride as any U.S. President since Watergate. Still, its quite comforting to read Bushs reassurances near the end of the same press conference: “I take personal responsibility for everything I say.” Well have to remember that one when the impeachment proceedings start.

Bushs hired help are hardly immune from making statements of this nature. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is particularly adept at saying things that make me choke on my breakfast cereal. In an in-flight interview granted to Associated Press as he returned from a tour of Iraq, he stated:

I’m not concerned about weapons of mass destruction. I’m concerned about getting Iraq on its feet. I didn’t come (to Iraq) on a search for weapons of mass destruction & I’m not saying that getting to the bottom of this WMD issue isn’t important. It is important. But it is not of immediate consequence.

Ahem. This sudden disinterest in finding weapons of mass destruction wouldnt have anything to do with the fact that you havent been able to find any, would it?

Of course, at this point, Wolfowitz must have still been tingling from getting away with his comments made the day before (while still in Iraq), in which he warned foreign countries to stop meddling in Iraqs affairs:

I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq. Those who want to come and help are welcome. Those who come to interfere and destroy are not.

For the most part, the news media reported these remarks without comment or criticism. I couldnt find a single editorial in a U.S. newspaper that criticized or even noted the obvious double standard being employed: Americans apparently do not consider themselves “foreigners” when they invade a country.

Appropriately, the Reuters wire story did contain the word “hypocrisy,” but it merely attributed the label to the Iranian government. Its a sad day for media analysis when it falls to a country that beats journalists to death to respond to such an obviously wrongheaded statement by a public official.

Obviously, this kind of statement is not limited to the Iraq issue or Americans. Around the world, politicians, bad actors who aspire to be politicians and business leaders seem to be adopting this penchant for making blatantly false or misleading statements as part of everyday discourse.

Maybe they think were not paying attention, and theyll be able to get away with it. So far, they seem to be right. Lets hope that the media and the public wake up soon.

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Scott Piatkowski

Scott Piatkowski is a former columnist for rabble.ca. He wrote a weekly column for 13 years that appeared in the Waterloo Chronicle, the Woolwich Observer and ECHO Weekly. He has also written for Straight...