Another Talking Point

In Doug's ongoing effort to call your attention to baloney-filled right-wing talking points, another one is surfacing, so add it to my helpful list:

• The Iraq government going on vacation in August is no big surprise because it's so durn hot in Iraq in August and/or the U.S. Congress goes on vacation in August, too.

Tony Snow has used both these reasons in an attempt to wave away how insulting and infuriating it is for the Iraq government to go missing while U.S. forces are fighting and dying to "give them the space" to create that government. But hey, I'm a reasonable guy; I'll take a few seconds and deconstruct this insanity:

1. It's even hotter for the U.S. troops outside, in their body armor, in the Humvees, while getting shot at; the Iraqis bureaucrats can deal.
2. Yes, the Congress goes on vacation. We've had a stable government for 2.25 centuries; the Iraqis don't have a stable government yet.
   

Our founding fathers worked through a Philadelphia summer without air conditioning in those heavy outfits and ridiculous wigs; the Iraqi "founding fathers" are taking a vacation. Forgive me if I'm a little irked at Tony Snow's flippancy.

I might add that there is something else surfacing from George Bush, but it's not a talking point; it's a blatant, flat-out lie: "The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th," he remarked at his press conference last week. The regular newspapers and mainstream press use terms like "misleading" and "an oversimplification," but the fact is, it's a flat-out lie. First, "al Qaeda in Mesopotamia" is a completely different organization from the al Qaeda that is run by Osama bin Laden, and only loosely affiliated with him. Second, "al Qaeda in Mesopotamia" didn't exist on 9/11.

The President is lying. He is lying because his war is a disaster, his policies are a disaster, and he is betting that his fear-mongering--which has worked for him so many times before--will work for him again. Don't let it. And don't be afraid to call a spade a spade; this isn't a mis-statement; it's a lie.