When Bush's wiretap lie was exposed in December 2005, the White House insisted that Bush had not lied, that his comments related only to roving wiretaps under the USA Patriot Act, an excuse that Bush adopted as his own on New Year's Day 2006.
"I was talking about roving wiretaps, I believe, involved in the Patriot Act. This is different from the N.S.A. program," he said.
However, the context of Bush's 2004 statement was clear. He broke away from a discussion of the USA Patriot Act to note "by the way" that "any time" a wiretap is needed a court order must be obtained. He was not confining his remarks to "roving wiretaps" under the Patriot Act. [For Bush's 2004 speech, click here.]
After the Washington Post's disclosure about Bush's bogus bio-war claims, McClellan called the article unfair and noted that Bush made his comments in response to a question, not in a formal speech.
"I saw some reporting saying he had gone out and given a speech about it, and that's not true," McClellan said. "I saw some reporting talking about how this latest revelation " was an embarrassment for the White House. No, it's an embarrassment for the media that is out there reporting this."
McClellan said the White House also demanded and got an apology from ABC News for suggesting that Bush touted the supposed bio-lab findings while knowing that the CIA/DIA "white paper" was bogus.
"I talked to one network about it and they have " expressed their apologies to the White House," McClellan said. "I hope they will go and publicly apologize on the air about the statements that were made, because I think it's important, given that they had made those statements in front of all their viewers."
Right-wing bloggers also rallied to Bush's defense.
Yet, while it may be impossible to know exactly what's in a person's head when something false is stated - whether the person thinks it's true or knows it's false - Bush's record of deception shouldn't earn him much benefit of the doubt from the American people.
When apologies start for misleading the public on matters of war and peace over the past several years, George W. Bush should be standing near the front of the line.
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Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq, can be ordered at www.secrecyandprivilege.com. It's also available at Amazon.com, as is his 1999 book, Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth.'
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