{"id":169,"date":"2006-08-15T07:19:55","date_gmt":"2006-08-15T12:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/08\/15\/bush-out-drivels-himself\/"},"modified":"2006-08-15T09:48:09","modified_gmt":"2006-08-15T14:48:09","slug":"bush-out-drivels-himself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/08\/15\/bush-out-drivels-himself\/","title":{"rendered":"Bush Out-Drivels Himself"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So Bush made the supreme sacrifice, returning from his vacation in Texas to Washington to inform Americans of his latest victories in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>His comments at the State Department yesterday came close to breaking his previous personal best in both the delusions and drivel categories.<\/p>\n<p>Bush began by declaring that Hezbollah was fully liable for every bomb that the IDF dropped, regardless of how many farm workers were killed and how far the victims were from any military-related target: \u201cAmerica recognizes that civilians in Lebanon and Israel have suffered from the current violence. And we recognize that responsibility for this suffering lies with Hezbollah. It was an unprovoked attack by Hezbollah on Israel that started this conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Bush\u2019s logic, if Israel had exterminated every living thing in Lebanon, it would still be faultless.<\/p>\n<p>For Bush, the latest Mideast conflict is another example of how America is bringing freedom to the world.\u00a0 Bush declared: \u201c<strong>America&#8217;s actions have never been guided by territorial ambition<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This would be news to the Mexicans, some of whom have not forgotten 1846.\u00a0 Or to the Filipinos, or the Puerto Ricans, or the Cubans (who lived under America\u2019s thumb prior to 1959, after which they lived under Castro\u2019s fist).\u00a0 By Bush\u2019s standards, Thomas Jefferson\u2019s purchase of the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon was spurred by a desire for spiffing up his botany collection.<\/p>\n<p>Bush\u2019s declaration is as credible as when Stalin proclaimed that the Soviet Union wanted only peace.\u00a0 Yet, people in Washington &#8211; people at editorial pages &#8211; swallow this crap as if being the president of the United States automatically turned a man\u2019s mouth\u00a0 into the Temple at Delphi.<\/p>\n<p>Now, some people may look at the title of this blog and assume that I have been too harsh on America\u2019s Commander-in-Chief.\u00a0 I rest my case with the following excerpt from Bush\u2019s comments on the Israel-Hezbollah clash:<\/p>\n<p><em>The world got to see what it means to confront terrorism. I mean, it&#8217;s a\u00a0<\/em>&#8212;<em>it&#8217;s the challenge of the 21st century, the fight against terror.<br \/>\n\u00a0A group of ideologues, by the way, who use terror to achieve an objective &#8212; this is the challenge.<br \/>\nAnd that&#8217;s why in my remarks I spoke about the need for those of us who<br \/>\nunderstand the blessings of liberty to help liberty prevail in the Middle East.<br \/>\nAnd the fundamental question is: Can it? And my answer is: Absolutely, it can. I believe that freedom is a universal value. And by that, I mean I believe people want to be free.<br \/>\nOne way to put it is, I believe mothers around the world want to raise their<br \/>\nchildren in a peaceful world. That&#8217;s what I believe. And I believe that people want to be free to express themselves and free to worship the way they want to.<br \/>\nAnd if you believe that, then you&#8217;ve got to have hope that ultimately freedom<br \/>\nwill prevail.<br \/>\nBut it&#8217;s incredibly hard work, because there are terrorists who kill innocent<br \/>\npeople to stop the advance of liberty. And that&#8217;s the challenge of the 21st<br \/>\ncentury.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So Bush made the supreme sacrifice, returning from his vacation in Texas to Washington to inform Americans of his latest victories in the Middle East. His comments at the State Department yesterday came close to breaking his previous personal best in both the delusions and drivel categories. Bush began by declaring that Hezbollah was fully [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[659,22,6,662],"class_list":{"0":"post-169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"tag-attention-deficit-democracy","8":"tag-bovard","9":"tag-lying"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bush Out-Drivels Himself - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/08\/15\/bush-out-drivels-himself\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bush Out-Drivels Himself - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So Bush made the supreme sacrifice, returning from his vacation in Texas to Washington to inform Americans of his latest victories in the Middle East. His comments at the State Department yesterday came close to breaking his previous personal best in both the delusions and drivel categories. Bush began by declaring that Hezbollah was fully [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/08\/15\/bush-out-drivels-himself\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-08-15T12:19:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2006-08-15T14:48:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jimbovard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/08\\\/15\\\/bush-out-drivels-himself\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/08\\\/15\\\/bush-out-drivels-himself\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"Bush Out-Drivels Himself\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-08-15T12:19:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2006-08-15T14:48:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/08\\\/15\\\/bush-out-drivels-himself\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":529,\"commentCount\":48,\"keywords\":[\"Attention Deficit Democracy\",\"Attention Deficit Democracy\",\"Bovard\",\"Lying\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/08\\\/15\\\/bush-out-drivels-himself\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/08\\\/15\\\/bush-out-drivels-himself\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/08\\\/15\\\/bush-out-drivels-himself\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bush Out-Drivels Himself - James Bovard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-08-15T12:19:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2006-08-15T14:48:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/08\\\/15\\\/bush-out-drivels-himself\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/08\\\/15\\\/bush-out-drivels-himself\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/08\\\/15\\\/bush-out-drivels-himself\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bush Out-Drivels Himself\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"James Bovard\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\",\"name\":\"Jim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Jim\"},\"description\":\"Bovard's homepage is at http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism &amp; Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/jim.bovard\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/jimbovard\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bush Out-Drivels Himself - James Bovard","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/08\/15\/bush-out-drivels-himself\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bush Out-Drivels Himself - James Bovard","og_description":"So Bush made the supreme sacrifice, returning from his vacation in Texas to Washington to inform Americans of his latest victories in the Middle East. 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The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \"the roving inspector general of the modern state\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \"one-man truth squad.\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism &amp; Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. 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