Last week George Bush, Karl Rove and Karen Hughes launched the Legacy Project -- a deliberate effort to spend the next six weeks trying to convince us we really didn't understand the last eight years.
The effort is being rolled out in a series of "exit interviews," where the trio try to replace the general consensus that George Bush was the worst president EVER with the proposition that George Bush was a resolute war president and reluctant warrior who was misled by bad intelligence.
First stop on the Bush Legacy Project was ABC's Charlie Gibson where Bush said "I don't know --- the biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq."
His biggest regret was the intelligence failure. That's right, the decider is basing his horrible decision making on a failure of intelligence. I couldn't agree more.
As Ben Cohen of The Daily Banter put it:
[Bush] has presided over two disastrous wars, an increase in poverty at home, an increase in wealth inequality, an increase in the number of people without health care, a crisis in public education, the break down of national infrastructure, the literal drowning of a city, the use of torture as official policy, the biggest financial crisis in 80 years, and the irreversible decline of America's prestige abroad.With all of that on his watch, this dim bulb launches a PR campaign to convince us that he was not the worst president because of an "intelligence failure."
But the interview got better:
GIBSON: If the intelligence had been right, would there have been an Iraq war? BUSH: Yes, because Saddam Hussein was unwilling to let the inspectors go in to determine whether or not the U.N. resolutions were being upheld. In other words, if he had had weapons of mass destruction, would there have been a war? Absolutely.Huh?
GIBSON: No, if you had known he didn't.
BUSH: Oh, I see what you're saying. You know, that's an interesting question. That is a do-over that I can't do. It's hard for me to speculate.
That's an interesting question? Really? It's as if this is the first time he is reflecting on a decision that has been debated for the last five years. And...he doesn't want to speculate. How convenient. Here's a thought... if you want to convince us to reconsider your legacy, you ought to be ready to answer basic questions. You ought to go out on a limb and speculate. You truly have nothing to lose.
The legacy project rolls on, so let's keep repeating the talking points until we believe them. Bush was really a good president. If those pesky intelligence folks had gotten it right, we would have had a good reason to invade Iraq. If only they had done their jobs. Oops. We're speculating again.
You're right W. Your biggest regret should be a failure of intelligence. Yours.
That was truly too easy.
