Years ago, when I read The Dark Knight Strikes Again, there was a line near the end of the third issue where George Bush’s Press Secretary, Ari Fleischer says “The President doesn’t have to say dick to you media pansies.” As satirical as Frank Miller’s story was, Miller hit really close to the mark; the Bush administration went out of its way to keep the American people misinformed through misinformation and obfuscation to the press.
So, then I see this, Ari Fleischer’s recent appearance on Chris Matthews’ Hardball.
What should be a simple “yes or no” question becomes, in Ari Fleischer’s tortured explanations, a piece of bewildering historical revisionism — Fleischer chastises Matthews with a “How dare you” when Matthew’s states that 9/11 happened on Bush’s watch.
Did 9/11 happen “on Bush’s watch”? Absolutely. Who received a Presidential Daily Briefing on August 6, 2001 entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US”? Whose administration rejected a retaliation plan against al-Qaeda for the USS Cole bombing? Whose administration ignored the counter-terrorism experts in favor of a policy of ballistic missile defense?
People wonder why I want a “truth commission” to look at the past eight years and strip the lies and falsehoods away. Fleischer’s rejection of the historical record shows why.