Gates, Rumsfeld, and Bush’s “Truth Issues”

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Granted, in the annals of Bush lies, it’s no standout — but still, there’s something weird about the way this one is just slipping by. Except for this fabulous Howard Kurtz/WashPost headline: “President’s Evasion Raises Truth Issues.” It does, doesn’t it?

Six days before the election, Bush told three wire-service reporters in an interview that Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney were doing “fantastic” jobs.

“You see them staying with you until the end?” asked Terence Hunt of the Associated Press.

“I do,” Bush replied.

“So you’re expecting Rumsfeld, Secretary Rumsfeld, to stay on the rest of your time here?” asked Steve Holland of Reuters.

“Yes, I am,” the president said.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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