Liars Or Fools

by digby

From Crooks and Liars comes this gem from Byron York on Fox News Sunday:

York: … I think the thing that kind of distinguishes McClellan is he was amazingly naive and his belief that George W. Bush would kind of bring us all together which was why he comes to Washington. Uh, if you remember that conference where Bush is asked to name a mistake that he’s made. And he gives an awful performance. He can’t name a mistake and this is terrible. And, but Bush realizes, and he told McClellan, he said look if I name a mistake my enemies are just going to keep pushing for more and more and more. And McClellan doesn’t see if that way. He actually writes in the book “I believe that by embracing openness and forthrightness, he could have, it could have redeemed him. It could have transcended partisanship and brought together leaders of both parties to try to consensus his way forward on Iraq. (crosstalk)

That is a naive point of view.

Yeah, It’s hard to figure out where anyone got the idea that Bush was that kind of guy. As C&L points out:

Bush used the phrase I’m a uniter not a divider, over and over again.

I believe all laws and public policy should support strong families. I believe in individual responsibility, that all individuals are responsible for their actions and decisions. A responsible leader sets a clear agenda and brings people together to achieve it. Responsible leadership sets a tone of civility and bipartisanship that gets things done. I am a uniter, not a divider and, as the governor of Texas, that is how I have led. It is how I will lead in the White House. Finally, together we can give this nation a fresh start after a season of cynicism. In that spirit, I make this pledge to you, the American people: Next January, when I put my hand on the Bible, I will swear not only to uphold the laws of our land, I will swear to uphold the honor and dignity of the office to which I have been elected, so help me God.

Perhaps the most touching speech of this kind was the night of the Supreme Court decision, when he promised to “lead the entire nation” and work across the aisle in the spirit of reconciliation after a disputed election result. it was very heartwarming.

Of course many of us weren’t buying, considering what we knew about how the Republicans play politics, but there were a few who did. And nearly all of them were addled Village gasbags like Richard Cohen:

“Given the present bitterness, given the angry irresponsible charges being hurled by both camps, the nation will be in dire need of a conciliator, a likable guy who will make things better and not worse. That man is not Al Gore. That man is George W. Bush.”

That worked out really well.

Scott McClellan apparently didn’t realize that his boss and mentor George W. Bush was a baldfaced liar. He was a naive true believer. The real question is why the Villagers were so taken in by what nearly half the country could see was an anti-intellectual manchild with a mean streak a mile wide? Are they baldfaced liars too or just naive fools like Scott McClellan? They are one or the other — and either makes them unfit to be political commentators.

.