Its Ok If You Are A Republican

After hearing the Bush/Cheney campaign attempt to brush off the Vice President's blatant distortions last night, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit some of their statements during the 2000 campaign.

I originally posted the following quotes as comments in the link I provided, but I thought it was a good idea to aggregate them after I realized how many examples of blatant hypocrisy were out there.

Let's go to the video tape...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AL GORE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: First, I want to compliment the governor on his response to those fires and floods in Texas. I accompanied James Lee Witt down to Texas when those fires broke out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Well, Al Gore did not actually visit Texas on this occasion with James Lee Witt, the FEMA director at the time. He visited with his subordinates. However, he did visit approximately 18 other disaster areas with Lee Witt at other times. A small discrepancy right...

Well, not if you were part of the Bush/Cheney 2000 team. Here is what they said.

Let's start with...

MARY MATALIN: He did not accompany James Lee Witt in '96 or '98. He never toured any of the fire zones. He did get a briefing in the pilots lounge at the airport when he went down to campaign for Governor Bush's opponent.

...Have we seen -- have we not seen this kind of compulsive behavior in the leader of the free world, and don't we understand the dangerous ramifications of somebody who just can't help themselves from making up stories?

I wonder if she is thinking the same thing about her boss?

and continue with

HALEY BARBOUR, BUSH ADVISER: Well, you know, it's a thing -- it's a thing where in a debate, if you can make up these fairy tales to carry your story, that's the thing --that these are like fables.

The problem is it was told to the American people as if it was the truth, and it wasn't the truth. You know, I've met James Lee Witt, I've been to Texas. And if I went out and said, James Lee and I went down to Texas, and we really worked on these fires, it would be totally made up though the two parts of it are true.

But these are fables that are designed to give him an advantage in the debates.

Here's the President at the time...

CROWLEY: The Gore camp says the vice president frequently travels with Witt to disaster sites and suggests that Gore's statement was a trivial honest mistake. George Bush says this is not about details, but about the larger picture.

BUSH: If there's pattern of just exaggeration and stretches to try to win votes, it says something about leadership as far as I'm concerned, because once you're the president, you can't stretch.

And the President again...

Bush also criticized Gore for saying, during Tuesday night's debate, that he visited disaster sites in Texas with federal emergency management chief James Lee Witt.

"It's a pattern of just saying whatever it takes to win," Bush said. Asked whether the discrepancy was a big deal, he said "There's a pattern of exaggerations and stretches to try to win votes, and it says something about leadership."

and the coup de grace...

Bush's running mate, former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, said he was "puzzled and saddened to learn" that Gore had misrepresented his actions during the 1998 wildfires in Texas.

"Al Gore has described these presidential debates as a job interview with the American people," Cheney said. "I've learned over the years that when somebody embellishes their resume in a job interview, you don't hire them."

I actually don't think the Vice President's distortions related to meeting Senator John Edwards should be that big of a deal. I am much more concerned about his distortions related to the war that our brave troops are still fighting. However, the same people seemed to believe recalling personal interactions was a big deal in 2000. I am just wondering if they feel the same way today.

I guess the old saying is true...

It ain't no fun when the rabbit's got the gun