North Korea, Truth, and Lehrer - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

rukkyg · 10-01-2004, 06:52 AM

Quote:

KERRY:......Now, I'd like to come back for a quick moment, if I can, to that issue about China and the talks. Because that's one of the most critical issues here: North Korea.
Just because the president says it can't be done, that you'd lose China, doesn't mean it can't be done. I mean, this is the president who said "There were weapons of mass destruction," said "Mission accomplished," said we could fight the war on the cheap -- none of which were true.
We could have bilateral talks with Kim Jong Il. And we can get those weapons at the same time as we get China. Because China has an interest in the outcome, too.
LEHRER: Thirty seconds, Mr. President.
BUSH: You know my opinion on North Korea. I can't say it any more plainly.
LEHRER: Well, but when he used the word "truth" again ...
BUSH: Pardon me?
LEHRER: ... talking about the truth of the matter. He used the word "truth" again. Did that raise any hackles with you?
BUSH: Oh, I'm a pretty calm guy. I don't take it personally.
LEHRER: OK. All right.
BUSH: You know, we looked at the same intelligence and came to the same conclusion: that Saddam Hussein was a grave threat.
And I don't hold it against him that he said grave threat. I'm not going to go around the country saying he didn't tell the truth, when he looked at the same intelligence I did.
KERRY: It was a threat. That's not the issue. The issue is what you do about it.
The president said he was going to build a true coalition, exhaust the remedies of the U.N. and go to war as a last resort.
Those words really have to mean something. And, unfortunately, he didn't go to war as a last resort.
Now we have this incredible mess in Iraq -- $200 billion. It's not what the American people thought they were getting when they voted.

Lehrer, trying to stir up some controversy, said that Kerry used the word "truth" again. He didn't. Kerry said that several things that Bush said were true or would become true as a result of his actions were not true. They weren't. There were no weapons of mass destruction. The mission wasn't accomplished. And the war was not done on the cheap. So, none of these thing were true.
The point Kerry was making is that just because the POTUS says that something will happen a certain way, in this case, China backing out of multilateral talks with North Korea as a result of billateral talks between the US and North Korea, doesn't mean that it's going to pan out in that manner.
Lehrer turned this in to an attack on Bush's veracity. Then, bush turned it back to say that Kerry "look at the same intelligence." This proves Kerry's point even more. When Kerry, the majority of the congress, and the American people believed the President and his intelligence about WMDs, they ended up in this war that they didn't bargain for. Believing him again when it comes to North Korea may lead to a similar result. It may not. It's not known, and the people shouldn't take the President's opinion of foreign policy as fact just because he's the President.