Ari Fleischer Uses 'Truther' Slur to Blunt Criticism Of NY Times story. [View all]

[Ichingcarpenter]

Ari Fleischer Uses 'Truther' Slur to Blunt Criticism That the Bush White House Received More Bin Laden Warnings Than Were Previously Known
Matt Welch|Sep. 11, 2012 9:46 am

In The New York Times today, journalist Kurt Eichenwald writes a 9/11 anniversary op-ed asserting that there are many more pre-Sept. 11 documents aside from the infamous Aug. 6, 2001 presidential daily brief warning the Bush administration that Osama bin Laden was planning to attack the United States. The nut of Eichenwald's argument:

SNIP



Regardless, these two reaction-tweets to the op-ed by former Bush administration spokesman Ari Fleischer are just crazy-wrong:

Disgusting op-ed in NYT by a truther implying Bush knew of 9-11/let it happen. NYT decries lack of civility, then adds to it.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2012
How can the NYT ridicule birthers then make their op-ed page home to a truther??

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2012


To state what should be the obvious, asserting that there was more relevant pre-attack intelligence than previously known, and criticizing the administration for undervaluing it, is an entirely different category of commentary than claiming that "Bush knew." If Eichenwald is a "truther," there is no evidence of it in this op-ed. Fleischer's blurt is the kind of mistake that immediately calls to mind the phrase "reading incomprehension," but I think it's something a bit more insidious than that.


SNIP..


http://reason.com/blog/2012/09/11/working-title