Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, War in Iraq, Cheeseburger

In my last post, I quoted Bush from an interview he gave at a coffeeshop in Crawford a few months before the war, in which he pretended as if the decision to go to war hadn't already been made. But to get that quote, I found this CNN transcript which was utterly pitiful.

I mean, the man had just lied repeatedly about the biggest topic of the day. The war in Iraq will be a legacy that will haunt Bush's presidency until people stop talking about him. And in that quote, he insisted that he really wanted peace, but that Saddam was making it impossible. Here's another quote from that day:

Again, I hope this Iraq situation will be resolved peacefully. One of my New Year's resolutions is to work to deal with these situations in a way so that they're resolved peacefully. But thus far it appears that on first look that Saddam Hussein hadn't heard the message.

See? He's no war monger. Saddam is. And if Saddam had just gotten rid of the weapons that he had already gotten ridden of, Bush could have gotten his New Years resolution of peace that year. And the whole interview was pathetic. Sure, some good questions. But all answered with lies. followed by jokes about four mile hikes and cheeseburgers.

Typical George W. Bush

But that's not the truly sad part. The truly sad part is when the CNN boneheads started talking about the footage they just saw. Again, by the end of 2002, everyone knew we were going to war with Iraq. It was a done deal, and all that was happening at that point was the sales pitch. And while it's hard for reporters at the scene to call the president a liar to his face, we all knew that he was lying. But what did the dummies at CNN talk about? Cheeseburgers.

KYRA PHILLIPS: Typical George W. Bush style, making a serious point, in addition to having fun with reporters there. He's not on his ranch in Crawford, Texas, but outside a coffee shop, where, of course, reporters follow him everywhere he goes, asking him about Iraq, making comments.

Our Suzanne Malveaux wasn't at the coffee shop, but she is there at the ranch, listening, hearing these comments for the first time. Suzanne, I want to know if you're going to take him up on the invitation for a four-mile hike?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, I'd love to, maybe even a run, if he extends the invitation. But as you mentioned before, President Bush talking anywhere from cheeseburgers to North Korea.

[....edited out pointless recap of North Korea]

Of course, he contrasted that with the situation of Iraq, saying, again, he did not expect that Saddam Hussein would disarm. He also brought the fact that he has defied the international community on various occasions through broken resolutions.

He went on to say that his New Year's resolution would be that conflicts be resolved peaceful will you, but said Saddam Hussein has not heard the message. What was interesting, the president also talked about the cost of the war. We have not heard this from President Bush. We've heard about how difficult it would be for him to make the decision, whether or not this country would go to war, the human cost. Today, he talked about it in terms of economic terms, saying this economy cannot afford an attack. He also went on to say that an attack by Iraq or a surrogate would cripple the U.S. economy. So all of these points, the president making, and, of course as you mentioned before, his New Year's resolution, trying to keep off those cheeseburgers -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: You can go on the nature hike; I'll eat the cheeseburgers. Suzanne Malveaux, live from Crawford, Texas, thank you.

So, they had the chance to discuss the most important issue of the day, but instead gave us a reminder of what a fun president Bush is, sandwiched with a regurgitation of Bush's lies without even a hint of questioning them. She even talked as if the decision to go to war hadn't already been made, and what a tough decision that would be; due to the "human cost." Oh, George Bush. What a humanitarian!

Even the stuff about the economy she mentioned was a sick joke. Bush was asked a good question asking how we could afford war during a recession, and Bush just kept repeating that it would cost us more to not go to war, because Saddam will attack us. And the reporter asking the question clearly knew he was being spun, yet Malveaux obviously thought it was a good point and just repeated it mindlessly.

Now, I'm not suggesting she call the president a liar, but you'd think she'd at least have mentioned how he ducked the question, or how his answer only made sense if we were definitely going to be attacked by Iraq. I mean, the war did hurt the economy, just as expected, and you'd think the CNN talkingheads would have wanted to talk about predictions of that happening, just to have something interesting to talk about.

But, no. Saddam was going to attack us, and it just made sense that an attack would cost more than war. Simple as that. And hey, how about them cheeseburgers?