Truth - Al Franken [126]
Book One: The Triumph of Evil
Chapter 1: Election Day
Vice President Cheney used the inaccurate terms “broad nationwide agenda,” “mandate,” and “clear agenda” in his speech introducing President Bush at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington on November 3, 2004.
Here are the false “mandate” claims, listed in order of appearance:
Bill Bennett: “The Great Relearning,” National Review website, November 3, 2004
Tucker Carlson: CNN’s Crossfire, November 3, 2004
Peggy Noonan: Fox’s The Sean Hannity Show, November 3, 2004
Bill Kristol: “Misunderestimated,” Weekly Standard, issue of November 15, 2004
The Wall Street Journal’s editors: “The Bush Mandate,” November 4, 2004
Tony Karon for TIME: “Victorious Bush Reaches Out,” posted on Time.com November 3, 2004
David Sanger for The New York Times: “Relaxed, Certainly, but Keeping One Eye on the Clock,” November 5, 2004
Doyle McManus and Janet Hook for the Los Angeles Times: “Majority Win Could Make Second Term More Partisan,” November 4, 2004
Wolf Blitzer: CNN’s “Breaking News” coverage, November 3, 2004
Renee Montagne for NPR: Morning Edition, November 3, 2004
President Bush announced the discovery of his stock of political capital in a press conference in Washington on November 4, 2004.
Chapter 2: How Bush Won: Fear
For more on the “Wolves” ad and its debunk, including a video of the commercial and copies of legislation proposed by John Kerry and Porter Goss, visit www.factcheck.org/article291.html.
The President’s October 30, 2004, speech in Orlando, like all public presidential remarks, is transcribed at the White House’s website, www.whitehouse.gov.
Vice President Cheney warned Americans about “making the wrong choice” at a “town hall meeting” in Des Moines on September 7, 2004.
Tom Ridge’s comment on the terror alert system is in a May 10, 2005, USA Today article titled “Ridge Reveals Clashes on Alerts.” He pooh-poohed the notion that the department was politicized in an August 2, 2004, press conference. The Associated Press then revealed, in a February 18, 2005, article titled “Ridge Met with GOP Pollsters,” that Ridge had, in fact, met with GOP pollsters Frank Luntz and Bill McInturff.
The TMT study I discussed is properly cited as follows:
Landau, Mark J., et al. 2004. “Deliver Us From Evil: The Effects of Mortality Salience and Reminders of 9/11 on Support for President George W. Bush.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 30 (9): 1136–1150.
The “terribly designed” exit poll can be found at www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html.
The Economist article on the non-barking of the moral values dog was titled “The Triumph of the Religious Right,” and ran on November 13, 2004.
Chapter 3: Bush’s Little Black Dress
The complete anthology of President Bush’s approval ratings can be found at www.pollingreport.com/BushJob.htm.
The August 6, 2001, Presidential Daily Brief has been declassified and is now available on-line at news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/80601pdb.html.
The report of the 9/11 Commission is available at your local bookseller. You can also read it on-line at no cost by visiting www.9-11commission.gov/report/index.htm.
George Tenet’s reaction to the 9/11 attacks was described in “The Wrong Man at Langley,” in the October 28, 2002, issue of the National Review. It was later confirmed to me personally by 9/11 Commissioner Jamie Gorelick.
Al Gore’s speech on October 18, 2004, was delivered at Georgetown University. The text is available on-line at www.moveonpac.org/gore5.
Yes, I know, you think it’s My Pet Goat, not The Pet Goat. But it’s The Pet Goat. It was published in an anthology called Reading Mastery—Level 2 Storybook 1, written by Siegfried Engelmann and Elaine Bruner.
The “Phoenix memo” is available on-line at www.thememoryhole.org/911/phoenix-memo.
The Associated Press reported on the warning from the Minneapolis