Stage Right

I am just so sick of this. it is one of those lies that the Bush administration never confronted or rebutted and it is nauseating.

This week, Frank Rich in the NY Times repeats the slanderous and easily verified mis-quote:

Op-Ed Columnist - Herbert Hoover Lives - NYTimes.com: "(Though that’s exactly what the G.O.P. demanded of Democrats with Bush: You were either with him or with the terrorists.)"

President Bush NEVER, and I mean NEVER said or even implied that if the Democrats were not with him they were with the terrorists... NEVER!

There is only one time where President Bush came CLOSE to uttering a phrase like this. Here is the context and the passage of President Bush's speech from September 21, 2001:

Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success. We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. (Applause.) From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.

It is clear who President Bush is talking about, and what he means by "With us". And, by the way, this is still our policy, and it SHOULD be. If we find that a country is wilfully harboring Bin Laden, they are our enemy.

By the way, I hope you click on the link I provided for the full text of this speech.... it's from the Iranian Press Service. That's right, the Iranian Press Service does a better job of properly quoting President Bush then theatre-boy Frank Rich.