During an interview with Sky News, President Bush accused 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.”
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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.”
Full, infuriating transcript below the fold.
BOULTON: I mean, you’ve talked a lot about freedom. I’ve heard you talk about freedom — I think every time I’ve seen you.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
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.
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?
THE PRESIDENT: It is, and I accept their verdict. I don’t agree with their verdict. And it’s not what I was doing down there. This was a law passed by our United States Congress that I worked with the Congress to get passed and sign into law.
BOULTON: But it looked like an attempt to bypass the Constitution, to a certain extent.
THE PRESIDENT: This was a law passed, Adam. We passed a law. Bypassing the Constitution means that we did something outside the bounds of the Constitution. We went to the Congress and got a piece of legislation passed.
BOULTON: Which is now being struck down, I think.
THE PRESIDENT: It is, and I accept what the Supreme Court did, and I necessarily don’t have to agree with it.
My only point to you is, is that yes, I mean, we certainly wish Abu Ghraib hadn’t happened, but that should not reflect America. This was the actions of some soldiers. That doesn’t show the heart and soul of America. What shows the heart and soul of America is the sacrifice of our troops willing to defend our country and liberate 50 million people, or the generosity of America when it comes to providing money for HIV/AIDS in Africa, or the fact that America feeds more of the hungry in the world than any other country. That’s the true America.
Filed Under: George W. Bush
Tags: abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, rendition, Torture
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It figures that our abysmally ignorant Resident would get schooled on the U.S. constitution by a foreign journalist.
Too bad there aren’t more like him over here.
pawned and exposed for the pathological liar/sociopath/empty bubble head that he is.
How about that press, huh? The nerve! I would say: “See? It’s so easy!”
Of all of Bush’s rhetoric the one thing that has always pissed me off the most is how he wants to spread freedom and democracy to the world, but selective freedom and democracy. I’m glad a someone finally was able to call him out on it.
Laura has this “good thing you’re hung because you sure are stupid” look on her face.
Meet the Press with Adam Boulton?
Bush isn’t big into reality or taking responsibility for his actions. Just like with the comment about the courts, the only opinions that count are the ones that agree with his. He seems to have no respect with the Supreme Court since they have kicked his ass on the last three cases that had anything to do with the prisoners at Gitmo. Justice is such a bummer for him.
Isn’t SKY the FOX of Britain…HA!
This is funnier than the episode of a court TV show where the judge asked if the nasty comments of the defendant were true. The “victim of slander” said yes they were, but they wanted the trash-talk to stop because it was ugly. The judge dismissed the case right there. So fast it made his head spin.
Impeach.
Indict.
Incarcerate.
NOW!
Call your congressmen and congresswomen and urge them to support Dennis Kucinich’s HR 1258 to impeach President Bush.
…and, uh…oh yeah…FRIST!
Damn…thought I had it…
Would someone please tell this brain dead fuck that the Supreme Court is the highest court in the land, and half those fuckers were appointed by him and his equally stupid ass father!
Al Hidalgo @ 9:
Well you’re a little late on the FRIST, but right on everything else!
what a fucking LIAR bush is.
the prisoners are “and they’re working it through our court systems. We are a land of law.”
bush is such a fucking LIAR. he opposes any use of the court system
to give these men any rights except for a guilty verdict without representation.
where are the international police to arrest bush for his war crimes?
“Baghdad Car Bomb Kills More Than 50″.
Geez.
My wife and I had planned to travel abroad when we reached our mid fifties. Now that the time has come, we are too ashamed and embarassed to do so. Every time I see that evil monster, our unelected, appointed D-student pResident, I am reminded of this. (better than being in Gitmo; yes, I know) I am pretty sure that we will find it necessary to emigrate if Weathervane McCain is appointed as the next pResident.
THE PRESIDENT: “But the district court didn’t. And the appellate court didn’t.”
This is such an unbelievably inane comment I don’t even know what to say. The fact that Bush thought this would be a good or convincing response is astounding. It’s not only completely disingenuous, it’s also laughably stupid.
Sidenote: Boulton demonstrates good journalism is by pressing Bush on his idiotic response, and Bush is forced to immediately abandon his “argument.” Wow - amazing what happens when a journalist challenges statements made by our political leaders instead of just nodding and moving on…
Is bush on goofballs or is he really that dumb???
President prissy pants sure got into a lot of stuttering and stammering when that reporter kept turning up the heat. And what was that part about the soldiers defending our country? Where? Defending our country in Iraq from whom?
Yeah, take a trip to gitmo and see how cool it is now. Man, I mean it’s like a resort. Wouldn’t you like to spend five or six years down there cut off from your family and the world, not knowing what minute they might decide you had to be executed. Hell, who could turn that down?
Al Hidalgo @ 9:
THAT’S the heart and soul of America I’d like to show the preznit.
Bush “can’t handle the truth”…and becomes more and more a cartoon of himself with each passing day…if we don’t have the biggest frigging FAREWELL PARTY on 1/20/2009 we shall have missed one great opportunity to let the door hit him on the butt as he passes away!!! I say FIREWORKS in every state in the union and drinks all around…
Mr. Bush, as a person of British origin, I would like to cordially invite you to suck a bag of cocks.
bush always on the defense and not very sophisticated at that……liberate 50 million people..by occupying,killing and causing a huge exodus of iraqi people from their country……..all for israel…..i meant to say democracy
Uh, George? it’s not slander if it’s true.
“Bypassing the Constitution means that we did something outside the bounds of the Constitution.”
–Bush
what a fuckin indiot
So is that what we call it now? “Outside the bounds of the Constitution”? I’m pretty sure “to bypass” does mean “outside or around the boundary of”.
Gee George, you make trampling the shit out of our Constitution sound so nice and civilized.
The Sainted Timmeh Russert this Boulton ain’t.
How dare he not pitch softballs and smile vacantly as the subject is changed?
I don’t know how I will be able to blather on about what a great man this Boulton character is when that fateful day comes if he doesn’t, you know, get with the program.
pissed off patricia @ 6:
I pray I see the day when this bastard has to face the consequences of his petulance. Unfortunately, with this congress of cowards it seems highly unlikely he’ll even see so much as a censure.
Vinny Corpuscle @ 24:
Idiot. Haha. I guess that includes me to. But at least I didnt fuck up 3 countries
70% of the heart and soul of America wants out of Iraq, dick head.
the Supreme Court is supreme only when the judges agree with me.
when it doesn’t agree, then it’s not supreme.
that’s it. yeah, that’s it.
Dancer @ 20:
I believe that the Farewell Party will be starting on the 19th and culminating on the 20th. You’re all invited to my house.
I betcha dem Irakis are really happy we liberated them. Now if they would just let us go around and shoot da evil doers without having to worry about der courts we will git along jus fine. Oh and let us fly our planes over their skies, you know how much I like to dress up in flight suits. and let dick’s friends handle all that oil. thats liberation ferya!
Amazing. One of Murdoch’s boyz schooling The Empty Flight Suit. Can you imagine a Fox ‘News’ counterpart doing that to Pickles and the Chimp?
I’d say the two of them are dumber than a sack of hammers, but that would be an insult to sacks of hammers every where. The whole interview is a total hoot. Her piping up on women’s rights is a scream…
Bush thinks he’s the supremeist.
HR 1258! HR1258! Every other country knows what a sociopath/liar this man is and are calling him on it. Like the typical schoolyard bully, he’s crying foul on the one actually telling the truth about what he is and what he’s done to this country.
He’s made this country totally hypocritical in every respect. His legacy will soon be “Madman President”.
Impeach his sorry butt and let’s begin the forward move to reestablishment of the rule of law in this country. We’d better do something to show the rest of the world that we are not the same as George W. Bush and begin distancing this country from the tactics of this liar/madman.
Support Hague Trials for Bush/Cheney 09!
Loonie @ 21:
I think the bag of cocks might have something to say about that…
its one thing to praise the U.S. in THE U.S. . its another thing to say it in a foreign land.
Bush has no use for the law.
Rove, of course, doesn’t either. His only goal is to get Repubs elected.
Americans are ambivilent. If it helps me this minute, it’s good. If it doesn’t, I don’t care.
What an embarrassment! boosh should give up this “legacy tour” and just stay on the ranch until jan.
The House voted to impeach George W. today!!!
Click here
“The true America” …….. lol, I think we’ve all seen what that is by it’s actions, or lack there of.
This man is one of the most evil and pointless wastes of oxygen on the planet.
“Slandering America”
Funny how every single americon reverts to that when getting criticised, especially by the Brits, opposed to just answering the point or the question.
Don’t just blame Bush who says he is ‘following laws’. Major blame must go to the likes of McSame and even Gingrich, neither of whom seem to have any idea what the Supreme Court’s purpose is. They think that interpretations of law must include the current political climate and consideration for the president’s and the people’s wishes.
Holy crap. This man and his concubine are servants of hell, if there is such a thing. But they don’t have anything to worry about, do they? When his time is up, he’ll retire to Crawford for a while, then when things get hot (threats of prosecution for war crimes?), all he has to do is move to Dubai and enjoy his secret war-funded bank account.
The man and his entire administration should be tried, convicted, and publicly hanged.
These people are not human.
I’m sorry to tell you guys this, but Obama will lose because there are a lot of White people who WILL NOT vote for a black man, period. I think we are going to be screwed for a few more years.
It is absolutely essential to the future of America, that the president of the United States be moved to a private, concealed location for the duration of his presidency. Under no circumstances should he be exposed to a camera or microphone. Bush can barely compute a sentence while being interviewed by a fox-friendly interviewer, but having a British journalist, using the most plain and absolute terms of our common language, asking questions, absolutely befuddled the prez. His response “Of course if you want to slander America, ...”
Dr. Joe says:
The Prez did not listen. He reacted in an elementary-school way. His reaction to the accusation of human rights violations at Gitmo and Abu-G, was typical to a bully that cannot defend himself with words, but only fists. He attacked the messenger.
He was not prepared for the question. Possibly his handlers assumed that the questions were all vetted in advance. Maybe, maybe not.
Bush converted the accusations of human rights violations into an attack on the USA was a weird mental gymnastic. He must have been insulted and converted the attack into a homeland attack, then established his high-ground by proclaiming a defamation of character.
I can’t quite finish the programming on this line of code…
Left&Left @ 11:
An even more liberal supreme court ruled that he should be president.
Does Bush truly believe his own bullshit. He gets so angry when challenged. It would be funny, if it wasn’t so tragic. He’s our president. What a disgrace to our country.
miss_kitty @ 36:
Indeed, water boarding is obviously the only americon way to deal with it………. !
Let’s get George Tenet back to do some ’splainin about his rant: We Do NOT Torture! We Do NOT torture! Sure, we sub the torture out to Blackwater, that’s what we do…..along with kids who haven’t a clue but feel they have to take orders from the hierarchy who are really the “demons” in all of this. Every last individual on the food chain from the top down need to provide sworn testimony about the role they each played in this disgusting and overt violation of the Geneva Conventions on Torture. You KNOW Chimpy gave the okay and now he’s trying to weasel out of it by claiming foul on the one questioning him. ROVE INVENTED DARVO and it’s become the Republican Mantra: Deny, Attack (back) and Reverse Victim and Offender.
The only fly in the ointment is that most americans know what Bush is doing and think even less of him for his obvious nonsensical tactics and lies.