Tuesday, June 17, 2008

President Bush accuses UK journalist of “slander[ing] America” for mentioning Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib abuses

SilentPatriot, Crooks and Liars: During an interview with Sky News, President Bushaccused British journalist Adam Boulton of “slander[ing] America” when he noted that, despite the President’s lofty rhetoric of spreading freedom, Guantanamo Bay and rendition are really “the complete opposite of freedom." (Click the pic for the vid.)

BOULTON: And yet there are those who would say, look, let’s take Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib and rendition and all those things, and to them that is the, you know, the complete opposite of freedom.
THE PRESIDENT: Of course if you want to slander America, you can look at it one way. But you go down — what you need to do — I think I suggested you do this at a press conference — if you go down to Guantanamo and take a look at how these prisoners are treated — and they’re working it through our court systems. We are a land of law.
The standard response whenever one criticizes American policies, of course, is to proclaim that that person is an anti-American slanderer. The irony, though, is that the policies this President has pursued over the past eight years could not be more “anti-American” in the classical sense. You know, things like rule of law and respect for human rights.
But wait, there’s more:
BOULTON: But the Supreme Court have just said that — you know, ruled against what you’ve been doing down there.
THE PRESIDENT: But the district court didn’t. And the appellate court didn’t.
BOULTON: The Supreme Court is supreme, isn’t it?
You see, in Bush’s America, the only courts that count are the ones he controls and/or the ones who rule in his favor. Never mind the fact that, as Boulton points out, the Supreme Court is called the Supreme Court for a reason.
This man — and the corrupt movement that sustained him for so long — truly sicken me. January can’t come soon enough.
WaPo’s Dan Froomkin has more on what he calls “Bush’s Senioritis” and “contempt for those who question him or doubt his accomplishments.”

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