Last night on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News, former Bush Press Secretary Dana Perino made the astounding statement “We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term.” See for yourself:
What was 9/11? Chopped liver?
Hannity doesn’t seem to notice, having lost his ability to tell truth from lies a very long time ago.
Even if Perino misspoke and was actually trying to claim that there were no terrorist attacks after 9/11, what about the Anthrax attacks on news organizations and (Democratic) members of Congress? Or the Beltway Sniper attacks around Washington DC? She is arguing that the shooting at Fort Hood should be called a terrorist attack, while simultaneously ignoring actual terrorist attacks that happened during Bush’s watch. And then she has the unmitigated gall to say “I hope they’re not looking at this politically.”
4 Comments
The worst of it is that this sort of rhetorical move, if repeated enough, will be convincing to an unfortunately large percentage of the population.
Far too many of us will believe what we hear asserted more than what we actually remember, especially if conveyed through a seemingly authoritative source (like TV news once was and some still think is).
Rhetorically, even this big lie might be part and parcel of a brilliantly effective rhetorical strategy, one that sees the Bush years through rose-tinted glasses in order to darken Obama’s administration and current society (pun on “darken” intended, because this same–usually Republican–crowd is often playing on racism).
The DC sniper was during the Bush era. That was terrorism.
They, the Republican apparatchiks, have been anxiously waiting for the first hint of a terrorist attack during the Obama administration. I’m sure they will continue to blow this way out of proportion.
What’s sad is that I’m positive many Republicans have actually been praying for a terrorist attack against Americans so they could say “I told you so…”. What sickos….
Good point, Bump. I added the Beltway Sniper attacks to the original post. Thanks.
One Trackback/Pingback
[…] indeed, when former Dubya press secretary Dana Perino claimed that there were no terrorist attacks during the Bush administration, I was willing to think that she had misspoken. I mean, there are big lies, but would anyone […]