It seems that the Bush campaign has fed the president a new talking point to use when defending the mess he's made in Iraq.
This from my friend Claudius Flauberius on April 13, 2004(referring to the President's Press Conference the day before):
"Update: I can't help it. I had to pull another quote. I caught the rerun a couple hours later, and I have to comment on this:'Some of the debate really centers around the fact that people don't believe Iraq can be free; that if you're Muslim, or perhaps brown-skinned, you can't be self-governing and free. I strongly disagree with that.'"What kind of idiotic garbage is he throwing out here? If press-time with George W. wasn't as scarce as clean-oxygen in the future, maybe one of the reporters could've followed up with: "Mr. President, exactly who are you strongly disagreeing with? Who exactly is debating this 'some of the debate" which you are referring to?' Our Chief Executive speaking to a room full of adults. Simply mind-boggling. "
Now this from Josh Marshall on April 30, 2004:
"Perhaps it is a sign of the more general desperation. But watch how the president now routinely accuses critics of his Iraq policy of being racists.
"This is from a brief press availability the president gave this morning with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin ...'There's a lot of people in the world who don't believe that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern. I reject that. I reject that strongly. I believe that people who practice the Muslim faith can self-govern. I believe that people whose skins aren't necessarily -- are a different color than white can self-govern.'"There is so much that is wrong-headed and dishonorable in this repeated invocation -- an implicit, churlish claim that the only reason to oppose him is racism -- that it is hard to know where to start."
Do you think there is a pattern developing?
It defies logic, but who would ever expect a Bush republican to subscribe to such an elitist virtue as logic. Or, perhaps, I am just racist.