One of Key SOTU Lies Was a Rerun

"We broke up a Southeast Asian terror cell grooming operatives for attacks inside the United States."
--George W. Bush, 2007 State of the Union

Was this the one broken up in 1995, before Bush, when we still had much of our Bill of Rights intact? Is this the "tallest building on the West Coast" story by another name in order to expand the list? I've seen a lot of reports on Bush's speech, but no explanation of what he's talking about here.

Of course, such claims were not new even in 2007: They follow the pattern of the Padilla radiation bomb claim. The announcement of that supposed success was made at a time when Bush needed a boost in the media, even though the man had been locked up for a month already; and then those major charges were later dropped. Keith Olbermann once ran a segment highlighting the suspicious timing of ten such announcements, each one of which ended up amounting to nothing at all. Olbermann's story left out plenty of more recent examples, but then, so did Bush's speech. Have we forgotten the heroic way in which he saved the Sears Tower already?

In 2007 Olbermann ran another story citing my article on Bush's lies. Eternal vigilance, Keith. Don't let it drop. Congress swallows it whole and applauds.

And did you notice that even in the 2008 State of the Union, when Bush claims new powers, Congress cheers?

"And tomorrow I will issue an executive order that directs federal agencies to ignore any future earmark that is not voted on by Congress.

"If these items are truly worth funding, Congress should debate them in the open and hold a public vote."

(APPLAUSE)

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