Carpe Datum

In All Fairness

As Feynman put it, if you want to have integrity, you have to report both sides of the story, even evidence that may go against your thesis. And so recent issues of The Daily Howler have done. Howler's point is that of all the lies in the State of the Union address, the one about the Iraq seeking Uranium from Africa may actually turn out to be factually correct (albeit in a Clintonian fashion). The press corps has focused on the claim that Iraq sought uranium from Niger, but the speech claimed that Iraq sought uranium from Africa, which could mean any nation.

It is quite possible the British have the goods on just such a transaction (although to be clear, the evidence so far indicates they did *not* have the goods on any such thing at the time of Bush's claim, which still makes Bush a liar even if Iraq did seek uranium from Africa, if you want to get technical about it). We may never know. The point Howler makes is that the press corps has made up its mind that Bush lied about the Africa claim, and virtually every story ignores lots of facts and explanations to push that thesis. It is very similar to the way the press decided Al Gore was dishonest, and virtually every story simply ignored lots of facts and explanations to push that thesis.

Never fear, though, there are still plenty of other lies about the war to be dealt with. And plenty of lies about everything else, too. The sad truth is that this country was a whole lot better off under the previous liar. The new slogan goes, "When Clinton Lied, Nobody Died."

Posted by Observer at July 20, 2003 12:13 PM