He Said/He Said

During any election it's almost natural for things to devolve into He Said/He Said, but this year's presidential election is becoming the mental equivalent of watching a Ping-Pong match (on acid). If the back and forth has got you crazy, this blog entry is NOT designed to help because this entry chronicles recent He Said/He Said's, but both "he's" are Bush (or Bush Administration Officials). For example:

On the one hand:
Regarding the latest bleak National Intelligence Estimate of Iraq's future, Bush said, "Life could be lousy, life could be OK, life could be better. And they were just guessing as to what the conditions might be like."
...And on the other:
Bush said he misspoke and should have used the word "estimate" instead of the word "guess."

* * * * *
On the one hand:
Still on the subject of Iraq, Bush said the following (all in the space of 11 seconds), "And they want us to leave. That's what they want us to do. And, I think the world would be better off if we did leave...if we did...
And on the other:
...if we didn't...If, if, if we left, the world would be worse...The world is better off with us not leaving" (Click HERE to listen to audio file.)

* * * * *
On the one hand:
When asked about holding elections in Iraq in January, Bush said, "The fifth and most important step in our plan is to help Iraq conduct free, national elections no later than next January. An Iraqi electoral commission is now up and running and has already hired personnel and is making key decisions about election procedures."
...And on the other:
Bush's Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, "Let's say you tried to have an election and you could have it in three-quarters or four-fifths of the country. But in some places you couldn't because the violence was too great. Well, so be it. Nothing's perfect in life, so you have an election that's not quite perfect. Is it better than not having an election? You bet."

* * * * *

But maybe the best example of Bush He Said/He Said was chronicled by Patricia J. Williams in her September 16th "Diary Of A Mad Law Professor" column in The Nation. As she put it:

"More prominent were the crazy-making contradictions flowing from the White House: A vote for Kerry means that the terrorists will strike again. Vote for Bush because the terrorists are going to strike again anyway. A vote for Kerry means that the danger will increase. Vote for Bush because the danger is increasing all the time. Oh and by the way, we've never been safer."

And Now for Something Completely Different...

If the above made your head hurt, here's a campaign commercial to make it all better:

http://www.n3t.net/humor/Seriously.mpg