some of us have taken our pResident too literally, and that's our fault.

[wyldwolf]

The Bush administration is to staging speeches what Mantovani was to strings. So consider this amazing circumstance: President Bush is being dogged by a photo op and a prop.

The prop: a banner saying "Mission Accomplished." The op: tailhooking onto the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln to pronounce it.

Sunday night's speech about Iraq didn't count as a retraction. But as USA Today said, it did "recast the debate."

What debate? If the president says something, we believe it. What's to debate?

Look: 70 percent of Americans believe Iraq had direct involvement in Sept. 11. This is a wild claim that Bush isn't even flinging. (Karl Rove is kicking himself over a missed opportunity.)

You see? We believe what warlike voices tell us. Now we are being told, I think, that some of us have taken our president too literally, and that's our fault.

On "Mission Accomplished" we're told that we read too much into that.

... more...

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/0903/10special_young.html

[rock]

1. Especially true

One side of the story is not a debate. Our media is simple a propoganda machine.

[grytpype]

2. 70 percent of Americans believe Iraq had direct involvement in Sept. 11.

I think this is to resolve a lot of cognitave dissonance. "If Iraq wasn't involved in 9/11, why are we there? Don't tell me those heros are dying for nothing!" Well, the truth is we're in Iraq because of a small group of deluded idiots called PNAC, and they are in fact dying for nothing.

[Brucey]

3. Yes, most of Bush's support is not rational, it is based on

his image of a tough, aggressive guy who will show those damn terrorists that 'Mericans won't take it. Also, his image as a defender of freedom. We need to hammer home the point that his actions led to terrorism, have increased the danger not decreased it, that he's a weakling, irresponsible spender, and has made freedom weaker. Kill the image.