Denial on Crack

It's pretty apparent that the Bush Administration's weapon of choice for helping Republicans hold on to Congress is fear: essentially, the fear that a Democratic-controlled Congress will lead to another terrorist attack on American soil.

Over the weekend, however, there is another tactic. A tactic that is better suited for a smaller audiences: denial. For example:

On "Meet the Press," Vice President Dick Cheney (among other things): placed blame of the intelligence that lead to the Iraq Invasion solely on former CIA Director George Tenet, claimed that (despite public opinion) American involvement in Iraq has not created more terrorists and basically dismissed the Senate intel report that conflicted with his latest justification for going to Iraq (he said he hadn't read it, despite his claim minutes before that he and Bush receive briefings on such matters quite regularly).

On Fox News Sunday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said about the Iraq/al-Qaida link: "

"What the President and I and other administration officials relied on and — you simply rely on the Director of Central Intelligence. George Tenet gave that very testimony, that there were ties going on between AlQaidaa and Saddam Hussein’s regime going back for a decade. Indeed, the 9/11 Commission talked about contacts between the two. We know that Zarqawi was running a poisons network in Iraq. "

Again, denial. Again blame Tenet.

What else is being denied? How about body counts?

"U.S. officials, seeking a way to measure the results of a program aimed at decreasing violence in Baghdad, aren't counting scores of dead killed in car bombings and mortar attacks as victims of the country's sectarian violence. "

Remember this fact the next time anyone in the Bush Administration makes a claim that violence is going down. Car bombings and mortar attacks are the insurgents'/rebels'/terrorists' preferred methods of destruction in Iraq. Cut that out, and anyone can say the place iSix Flagsnd.

Of course there is the Denial That Need Not Be Mentioned: that Bush and Co. thought Iraq would be a cakewalk (echoing Cheney's claim of America being greeted as "liberators"). Evidence that the Iraq invasion was underplanned is re-enforced by the fact that DefensSecretaryry Donald Rumsfeld didn't want anyone talking about a post-war plan:

"Long before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld forbade military strategists to develop plans for securing a post-war Iraq, the retiring commander of the Army Transportation Corps said Thursday."

Looks like during the next 50+ days the Bush political menu will consist of fear from Monday-Friday, and denial on weekends. Enjoy.