WaPost: Sharpton Says Bush Lied, Hopes President Knew It

[La_Serpiente]

Sharpton Says Bush Lied, Hopes President Knew It

MILWAUKEE, Feb. 15 -- The question from panelist Lester Holt seemed simple enough: Did President Bush lie to the American people about the war in Iraq, and if so, why?

"Well, first of all, I think that if he did know he was lying and was lying, that's even worse," Al Sharpton explained. "Clearly, he lied. Now if he is an unconscious liar, and doesn't realize when he's lying, then we're really in trouble. Because, absolutely, it was a lie."

As the audience began to murmur and laugh, Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) was caught on camera trying unsuccessfully to stifle a chuckle. Sharpton was just getting warmed up.

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Sharpton Says Bush Lied, Hopes President Knew It

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[tobius]

1. careful Sharpton, Kerry saw the same intel and voted for IWR. n/t

[spooky3]

2. Actually, is that true? The CIA is part of the executive branch, isn't

it? Do you know for certain that the * administration shared all of the info it had with the Congress?

[Atman]

3. Kerry saw what BushCo showed him

I'm getting tired of this one. I don't really even like Kerry, but I don't need to hear this crap over and over again. It is if you think Bush and Kerry were handed the same reports to read. You can't be that naive, can you?

[tobius]

5. naive? maybe. It is possible.

"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program." President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998.

"We urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." Letter to President Clinton, signed by Sens. Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others Oct. 9, 1998.

"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002.

"Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real ..." Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003.

[salin]

7. Did Kerry say... we know they have weapons and we know where they are?

bush and his admin did... and this is to what Sharpton was referring as indisputable lies... during the interchange he repeats those two points... and suggests... now we know that they didn't really know where they are (by implication... or the weapons would have been found.)

His line here hurts noone but the administration.

[ThirdWheelLegend]

4. Great for Sharpton, but media once again ignores Kucinich.

If anyone still doesn't believe it is deliberate...

From what I have read, didn't Kucinich get asked the question first in the debate and answered that yes Bush lied?

Kucinich's name is mentioned nowhere on that page.

I love Al and his response was right on, but ...

Go Media, ignore the threat...

:shrug:

TWL

[spooky3]

6. Yes, you are right.

He said it early in the debate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44506-2004Feb15.html

and no one seemed to pick up on it.

Then he repeated it later, and Lester Holt followed up with Rev. Sharpton, and only the Sharpton exchange was trumpeted in the story.

[BruinAlum]

8. Yes, I saw it too

Kucinich came right out and said Bush lied.

But I think Sharpton got the coverage because he was so funny. Did you see it? I mean, Sharpton brought the house down with laughter. He went on and on. It was sooo funny.

[Laughing Mirror]

10. Sharpton uses humor to get the essential across

Anybody know if there's a video of this somewhere?

[BruinAlum]

11. I may have seen a thread about that - not sure where I saw it

If you get C-Span it was supposed to be replayed 3 times. Don't know the times.

[Laughing Mirror]

12. Thanks, I'll look on C-Span

MSNBC website is only running a Howard Dean clip.

Did Dean also say something noteworthy?

On edit: C-Span 1 is running it at 10AM, E.S.T.

[ThirdWheelLegend]

13. That may explain why Sharpton got coverage, but.

But what explains why the name Kucinich did not even appear in the article even though Kucinich said "The president lied to the American people.", before Sharpton said any of what was quoted?

The answer, it is just the continuation of the attempted complete media blackout of exposure to Kucinich. It is very obvious that his ideas of change are a serious threat to the system of dominance of which the media is a part. The day after the Maine/Washington caucuses I went to 5 news websites before I could find the name "Kucinich" posted on their front page story about the caucuses.

It is painfully obvious what is happening.

Anyway, I love Al and he said some great things.

[BruinAlum]

9. Here's the relevant text. Kucinich and Sharpton on did Bush lie

BORGER: This is to Congressman Kucinich.

President Bush last week said that yes, he had expected to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that he was using the same intelligence that had been provided to President Clinton, also the same intelligence that had been used by the heads of other nations.

Do you believe that the president knowingly lied to the American people? And if so, why would he do that?

KUCINICH: I think that this administration knew full well that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, with Al Qaida's role in 9/11, with the anthrax attack on this country, that Iraq had neither the capability nor the intention of attacking the United States, that Iraq was not trying to get uranium from Niger and that, in fact, Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.

This is the singular issue upon which this election will turn. And I, as the only one up here who voted against the war and voted against the Patriot Act, as the ranking Democrat on a subcommittee that has jurisdiction over national security, an investigative subcommittee, I never saw any evidence that suggested that there was a reason for this country to go to war against Iraq.

It was wrong to go to in it's wrong to stay in it is time that we start talking about bringing our troops home, bringing those guardsmen, guardswomen, those reservists back home. Stop this war get out of Iraq.

BORGER: So I take it the answer is yes that the president knowingly lied to the American people?

KUCINICH: The president lied to the American people.

BORGER: And why would he do that?

KUCINICH: Well, you know what, I can't speak for the president. But I can speak as the next president of the United States...

(LAUGHTER)

... to say that I intend to bring those troops home by going to the U.N. and giving up control of the oil, letting the U.N. handle that on an interim basis on behalf of the Iraqi people, letting the U.N. handle the contracts.

KUCINICH: The United States must renounce privatization. We have to ask the U.N. for help in developing a constitution and new elections in Iraq. We must pay for what we destroyed, pay for a U.N. peacekeeping mission, and provide reparations for innocent civilian non-combatants who lost their lives.

This is the plan to get out of Iraq. We can get out of Iraq, and I'll lead the way.

GOUSHA: Lester?

HOLT: I'd actually like to let Reverend Sharpton follow up on that very question. Do you think that the president knowingly lied, and if so, why?

SHARPTON: Well, first of all, I think that if he did know he was lying and was lying, that's even worse.

(LAUGHTER)

Clearly, he lied. Now if he is an unconscious liar, and doesn't realize when he's lying, then we're really in trouble.

(LAUGHTER)

Because, absolutely, it was a lie. They said they knew the weapons were there. He had members of the administration say they knew where the weapons were. So we're not just talking about something passing here. We're talking about 500 lives. We're talking about billions of dollars.

So I hope he knew he was lying, because if he didn't, and just went in some kind of crazy, psychological breakdown, then we are really in trouble.

Clearly, you know, I'm a minister. Why do people lie? Because they're liars. He lied in Florida he's lied several times. I believe he lied in Iraq.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

HOLT: And Reverend, you'll recognize, obviously, calling someone a liar is a very serious charge. So it does lead to that question...

SHARPTON: I think he lied.

HOLT: So it does lead to the question: Why would he lie?

SHARPTON: Why do people lie? I mean, if in my judgment...

HOLT: I mean, knowing he would be in the position that you're putting him in now, why would he...

SHARPTON: Well, first of all, Lester, let us look at the facts. The facts are that what they presented to the United Nations, what they presented to the world was not so. You can only assume that they had to know if they said that they knew where the weapons were, that they knew they didn't know where they were.

And now to come back and tell us that Saddam Hussein is a cruel, despicable person, which we all agree, but we believed him when he told us he had them. Can you imagine me telling you that I believe somebody that you should never believe, and I brought 500 people to their deaths believing in a man that was as despicable as Hussein, and this is who we're going to have over the troops' lives in this country?

I think that this is absolutely outrageous. Why he lied? I think we should give him the rest of his retirement to figure that out and explain to us.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

GOUSHA: We're going to have to take another break. We'll continue with this debate in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(APPLAUSE)