ABC News, via “Good Morning America,” tried to pass off as “blockbusters” this morning certain revelations made by George Tenet in his book and on Sunday’s “60 Minutes”—charges quickly, effectively, and (more importantly) factually countered by Press Secretary Tony Snow [as of yet, the Snow interview is not available on ABC’s website].
But while Snow rebutted rather easily news editor Chris Cuomo’s two-fold “blockbuster” suggestions that Tenet “admitted” the threat from Iraq may not have been “imminent,” and that Saddam had no “operational ties” to al-Qaeda—Snow reminded Cuomo that what the President said was that we must not allow the threat from Saddam to become imminent (something Condi Rice explained yet again this weekend as the US taking the strategic initiative and operating from a position of power), and that the White House has said repeatedly that Saddam was not involved in 911 (even though the New York Times, of all things, admits that there were most certainly ties between Saddam and al Qaeda)—Cuomo’s real point came next, when he cited public polls noting that a majority of Americans believe both instances of media spin.
Which is to say, Cuomo’s point seemed to be that an advocacy media and left-liberal Democrats have succeeded in turning actual truth into lies purporting to be the truth, then using this remarkably troubling occurrence as “proof” that “truth” is nothing more than what most people believe.
Or to put it another way, Cuomo seemed to glorying in the unscrupulous bounty that comes from the will to power—itself a product of the cynical manipulation of postmodern observations about truth-as-linguistic-construct.
But while it is correct to note that “truth” is man-made (in the unremarkable sense that it is a concept invented by humans and framed in language, which is a human invention), what is worrisome is that the media and many politicians have now willingly exchanged their commitment to remaining as objective as possible—a commitment that keeps in check the notion of “truth” that humans have adopted to establish an epistemology that has furthered civilization by way of a reliance on rationalism— for the far easier (and more fruitful, from their perspective) commitment to rhetorical control, which, in a soundbite culture wherein most citizens are only tangentially politically engaged and are taught to rely on the press for the information necessary to make informed decisions, is a form of de facto indoctrination.
And Cuomo, probably without thinking it through, seemed absolutely thrilled to note that the disconnect between “fact” and “received truth” favored the advocacy media / “progressivist” set of narratives that have relentlessly been pushed since the anti-war crowd decided to turn the Iraq war into a political football.
Evidently, the ability to control the opinions of the American electorate through a conscious misframing of certain keys facts around which an ideologically-tainted narrative is forged is what passes for “progress” these days.
Call it a Great Leap Forward.
*****
related: “George Tenet’s Imaginary Encounter”; Victor Davis Hanson
Eh, September 12th…15th whatever, I am sure Mr. Tenet has the conversation seared into his memory.
On the TV side of the house, were I Mr. Cuomo, I’d be gleefully whacking Tenet about the head and shoulders, then see what digs I could get in with the White House. Stir everything up and draw in the viewers. Instead all we get is tired service to the narrative. Any wonder why broadcast network TV ratings for news are starting to join their brothers in the newspaper industry?
It’s gone past narrative to boilerplate, now.
That’s from way-left Michiko Kakutani’s NYT book review. And it’s a straightforward citing of one of the things George Tenet writes that is indisputably true. So why “suggests”? Because the overarching narrative the media is spinning hinges on an assertion of the inherent unknowableness of it all. It’s the inverse of the global warming spin – in that case, we will have the eternal assertion that we have achieved a consensus (but never so much consensus as to obviate constant reminders that we have achieved a consensus). With the Iraq war, we’ll never really know. We will always “need answers.”
Is this Coumo any relation to the former (all your money is ours) NY Governor?
I won’t say he was a liar, just “other truthed.” The son, the current AG, never did explain the $350K in taxpayer money spend on a CD extolling his virtues for the Governor of NY…
If we get the government we deserve, I must have been a bad boy.
I am losing track of the number of remarkably consistent liars against the Bushies: Whitman, DiIulio Jr., John O’Neill, Richard Clark, Tenet, JOE WILSON!!!!!!!!!, etc.
What possible reason do all these people for telling the same stories about these heroes in the administration? Must be the book deal money. Many of them are lifelong Republicans, so the cash, especially for O’Neill (who had 15 million socked away for retirement), must be phenomenal!
Secondly, it’s sad when a man who defends torture, errr, “enhanced interrogation techniques”, can be called a pussy by that manly Bill Kristol. But, it’s crazy world we live in! One where George Tenet, a man obsessed with getting bin Laden, sides with the terrorists. Just tragic.
On a serious note, I think the record is pretty clear that the Bush administration wanted to go to war in Iraq shorty after Bush v Gore was handed down and 9/11 was a handy pretext to do something they intended to do all along (and now could think of a better reason for doing so). Personally, I’m done caring about why they started this boondoggle and I would like to hear someone with power tell me how they are going to fix it.
The partisan PW poster answer “we’re still in Germany” is not an answer Americans are going to accept and the Daily Kos’s “Get everybody on a plane today” is short-sighted and silly.
I assume the right and left will let serious people know when they’re done arguing over causation?
I now return you to the “George Tenet is a liar just like everyone else who criticizes the administration post.”
P.S. Kudos to the folks at Harper Collins for the fact-checking of that Richard Perle story. Nice work.
Timmy,
Why do all those people lie about things which can be checked – and when they are in fact checked expose them as liars?
As for consistency, the people you list are not in fact consistent. Richard Clarke’s testimony before the 9/11 commission in fact contradicted elements of his own book.
And your claims are no more founded on reality. The Bush administration did not want to go to war with Iraq “as soon as Bush v. Gore was handed down.”
Try again, timmy, these talking points of yours are stale.
Do you think this is the “real” or biggest reason that President Bush chose to invade Iraq, timmyb?
Except for, as it stands right now, it really seems like he IS a liar, doesn’t it? Of course, this is a he said/he said situation, so I guess we will never know.
I dunno. Could it be maybe that they’re political actors engaging in electoral politics?
Apparently, with regard to the Bush administration’s attitude toward Iraq, timmyb believes that “wanted to go to war with” == “agreed with the Clinton administration that regime change would be a positive thing in.”
timmyb, you’re making Jeff’s point for him: you’ve bought the story as it’s been handed to you, in the face of much contradicting evidence, and you hold it up as “the record is pretty clear.”
As for motive… well, Clinton ain’t the only person inside or outside the Beltway trying to gin up a legacy. We among the normal people tend to go straight to the money – but we should bear in mind that there’s a tendency among those who seek political power (which includes high-level government employees – look at both the money AND the adulation Greenspan can command) to be motivated by things other than, or in addition to, money.
….with a light sprinkling of timmyb’s “Joe Wilson is a great American and not a cocktail circuit attention whore.”
You are not losing track at all. Liar.
Ignoring, for the moment, that the only ‘consistency’ shared in that rogues gallery is the MSM’s willingness to tout whatever they were peddling, instead let’s just focus on Joe Wilson’s presence in that litany.
So, TimmyB are you actually saying that Wilson is not a liar, nor had any obvious reasons for being the lying liar that he was? Otherwise why include such a paragon of honesty among the rest?
“Tenet? He still owes you money, fool!…”
I don’t know if they’re consistent liars, but they’re certainly habitual liars, in addition to having other unsavory and untrustworthy characteristics. Without a doubt, Wilson claimed that he made a liar out of George Bush, then slowly and reluctantly was made to reel that all the way back in.
For some entertaining reading on George Tenet’s past, go to fas.org and search on Deutch Tenet, not in quotes. Interesting reading, there. To George Tenet, it’s eminently forgiveable for one of his people to take a classified laptop home and surf web porn on it.
Probably hooking up to AOL on it would be even worse, but surfing web porn on a classified machine just has that extra zing to it.
also I think you mean Paul O’Neill – John is one of those peeps what was all squooshed when that building fell on top of his head
Of course John O’Neill is also that lying scoundrel who dared question John Kerry’s heroic acts which garnered him 3 – COUNT ‘EM THREE!!!! purple hearts. One of his wounds even drew blood.
Good point. I guess it IS easy to lose track. Apologies, timster.
Hard to describe it as such when Tenet’s saying somebody said something to him at a certain time and place, and that person demonstrably wasn’t in that place at that time.
I would like to hear someone with power tell me how they are going to fix it.
Heard of Petreaus and the COIN manual? He’s got power, and he’s got the know-how to fix it.
It’s really tiring to have to keep explaining the plan when the plan has been outlined over and over and over and over again.
I thought the freedom medal pinned to Tenet;s chest was part of the down payment for him to go away and hide in a very deep hole. Sort of a – “you fucked up the intelligence but have dirt on us, here go away quietly” medal of honor.
That he would stick his bloated fat face back in the msm spotlight to further try to undermine and fuck over this administration (somethng that his former minions at Langley have been actively doing for the last 5 years) is beyond the pale. Once again GWB will probably politely shrug off the ankle biting gutter snipes that together have totally pinned him down.
Where is the hunting trip with Dick CHeney invite going out to M’sier Tenet??? When will this administration stop playing nice with these scumbags and take them for a long walk in the woods with a shovel?
I am starting to see the wisdom in Risk Morans argument now. This administration has blundered the whole she-bang by letting the whores in DC manipulate the narrative and twist it to meet their partisan ends. It just makes my skin crawl watching this happen with nary a fighting response from the President.
Timmy —
Where in my post do I call Tenet a liar? Instead, I think I rather showed that what was being held up as a “blockbuster” from Tenet’s interview was in fact already clearly established as fact, and was not disputed.
In an addendum to the post I point to a couple articles that catch Tenet in a few whoppers. But my post was about something else entirely.
Mind arguing against the post, not against what you wish the post was, or what you’ve convinced yourself the post must say given that it was written by a “conservative”?
I am frankly a bit disturbed that the liars timmy points to are all career bureaucrats and government lackeys. How could these people have gotten to where they are by being anything but paragons of honesty and virtue?
I certainly hope the next President, whoever it is, can count on the cooperation of our agencies, bureaus, offices and departments and doesn’t have to worry about someone taking potshots at them from behind a security clearance; filing grievances and disagreements away for later publication rather than airing them; or conspiring with old friends in Congress to help gin up scandals.
Maybe we should just ask the CIA and the other permanent bureaucracies whom they would prefer as President next time.
Hitch gives Tenet an unmitigated assreaming.
in other words, lying.
No chance. If it is a Democrat the press will downplay it and remind everyone what self-serving weasels professional bureaurocrats are, only difference. It still amazes me that people tout Joe Wilson being a former ambassador as if that is a recommendation. Do they not know what ambassadors do?
I don’t know about them, but I know that ambassadors are paid to lie for their country to another country; steal or otherwise acquire as much information as they can for their country from the other country; and all the while doing that with proper manners and the tongue of a well-oiled snake.
What? You thought it was a noble profession?
shh…Rob, I was throwing the timster a bone. I liken it to giving change to a homeless person. What that person does with the change is on them.