Mathews was almost getting tonight, but not quite

He let General Odom, former NSA, talk
quite a bit about the Iraq disaster.
But they both fell down when Tweety said
someone "got to" Bush in December of 2001,
and took his focus off Al Quaeda and on to
Iraq.

I couldn't believe the General didn't correct him,
but neither one seemed to know that Treas. Sec
O'Neal said in his book that Bush was focused on
Iraq from Day one.

Maybe if enough folks emailed them and
called them on this, they would take the
time to look it up, and stop making excuses
for Bush.

hardball@msnbc.com

Two Years Before 9/11, Candidate Bush was Already Talking Privately About Attacking Iraq, According to His Former Ghost Writer
by Russ Baker


HOUSTON -- Two years before the September 11 attacks, presidential candidate George W. Bush was already talking privately about the political benefits of attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer, who held many conversations with then-Texas Governor Bush in preparation for a planned autobiography.

"He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999," said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. "It was on his mind. He said to me: 'One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.' And he said, 'My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.' He said, 'If I have a chance to invade·.if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a successful presidency." Herskowitz said that Bush expressed frustration at a lifetime as an underachiever in the shadow of an accomplished father. In aggressive military action, he saw the opportunity to emerge from his father's shadow. The moment, Herskowitz said, came in the wake of the September 11 attacks. "Suddenly, he's at 91 percent in the polls, and he'd barely crawled out of the bunker."

more-

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1028-01.htm

November 3rd. How much political capital and mandate he had even though he "won" by two percent. I guess he was comparing to his father.

"To Chris Mathews, just a little reminder to you, sir.

When you said on HARDBALL that in December of 2001 that someone must have "got to" Bush and took his focus off Al Quaeda and on to Iraq, need I remind you that in Paul O'Neal's book he sated that from day one G.W. Bush was focused on invading Iraq. O'Neil should know because he was sitting across the table from Bush, and therefore is a direct witness.

Anyway, you do that time and again--say things that are obviously false. The America people know it's false because of testimonial knowledge. Paul O'Neil is one of many "insiders" who've revealed that Iraq has always been G.W.'s plan, along with his cohort Cheney.

I just thought you needed to be reminded of fact-based reality. For some reason you insist on deluding yourself about the true motives of Bush and Cheney. Lest we forget that Cheney tried to get Clinton to invade Iraq in the late 1990s, so your false notions just don't fly with us realists out here.

A concerned Western New Yorker"

I think to the extent Mathews has a few
shredded remnants of a soul left, we
should try to blow on those sparks
as best we can...

...

You see, you can't even DEFEND Bush these days without bringing in another one of his flaws.