Let the record show

What a casual liar our President is.

At his news conference yesterday to renounce his thumpin’ and announce Rumsfeld’s sudden departure, W. was confronted by wire-service reporters. The reporters wanted to know why Bush told them last week that Cheney and Rumsfeld would remain through the end of his term.

Having just be re-reassured that Cheney was to stay on, their question was, in essence, the classic lawyer’s trap for a shifty witness: Were you lying to us then, or are you lying now?

Bush: Right. No, you and Hunt and Keil came in the Oval Office, and Hunt asked me the question one week before the campaign, and basically it was, `Are you going to do something about Rumsfeld and the vice president?' And my answer was, `They're going to stay on.' And the reason why is I didn't want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign. And so the only way to answer that question and to get you on to another question was to give you that answer. (Washington Post)

See, he only lies to us when he doesn’t want to tell us the truth. When the truth might be inconvenient or might interfere with his political agenda. Or when the truth might provoke follow-up questions and discussion. Or when he doesn’t have the wit or verbal dexterity to sidestep a question without lying. Or when he’s tired and cranky, having missed his nap or bedtime.