When in a hole, keep digging.

Having hitched themselves so firmly to a policy that is the gift that keeps on giving in showing itself to be a disaster at pretty much every level, and to a preznit that keeps showing time after time that he's simply not even up to the job of maintaining a competent caretaker administration (e.g., Hurricane Katrina), much less strike out successfully in (totally misguided) new directions, the Republican apologists see no other option than to keep digging in their heels and trying to convince an ever leerier public that black is white and down is up.

So now we have the ol' "tactics" trotted out again: The Swift-Boating of Joseph Wilson. "Wilson lied, so it's OK to out his CIA Counter-Proliferation Devision operative wife...."

And then we have the likes of Hindrocket chiming in on the Wilson smears and trying to convince somebody ... anybody, isn't anybody listening? ... that the maladministration was right and yes, that there were WoMD in Iraq (or at least there were for rhetorical purposes), and yes, things are just going according to plan, nay, swimmingly, there....

Sez Hindrocket:

Here is the conclusion of Podhoretz's article:

And so long as we are hunting for liars in this area, let me suggest that we begin with the Democrats now proclaiming that they were duped, and that we then broaden out to all those who in their desperation to delegitimize the larger policy being tested in Iraq—the policy of making the Middle East safe for America by making it safe for democracy—have consistently used distortion, misrepresentation, and selective perception to vilify as immoral a bold and noble enterprise and to brand as an ignominious defeat what is proving itself more and more every day to be a victory of American arms and a vindication of American ideals.

That is, of course, what the Democrats' effort to rewrite history is all about.

You just have to laugh at the this pathetic projection. Yeah, the Democrats "were duped" ... at least those of them that said they thought there were WoMD. Doesn't change the following hard facts:

1. Those of us that thought there were no WoMD were not duped and were right.
2. That others may have been duped doesn't make the Republicans and their sycophants any the less wrong. If they weren't "duped", they are even more wrong.
3. The Democrats that were "duped" are willing to at least admit that, and that there were no WoMD.
4. The Republicans are going to continue to insist that they did nothing wrong and that they weren't "duped" -- and pretend as often as they can that there was nothing wrong with the 'intelligence' (at least as used by the maladministration), and therefore the unstated but implicit conclusion (if you're inclined to actually think logically about what they're saying) is that there were WoMD. I mean, who are you gonna believe, them or your lying eyes?

"Rewrit[ing] history".... Heh.

Here's more from Norman Podhoretz:

Among the many distortions, misrepresentations, and outright falsifications that have emerged from the debate over Iraq, one in particular stands out above all others....

Say, Norm: That would be, "Saddam's got WoMD! He's got nukes! He's gonna blow us up!"

You don't believe that Hindrocket and Podhoretz are continuing the song, "Waagh, There Really Are Nukes In My Soup"??? Hell, try this quote from Podhoretz (from the above link cited by Hindrocket):

Yet even stipulating—which I do only for the sake of argument—that no weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq in the period leading up to the invasion....

Yep, he's still swinging, and it's strike thirty seven.... LOL.

Podhoretz trots out the dog-eared list -- currently the fave of the RW "spin machine" -- of Democratic politicians opining as to weapons programs and intentions. Never mind that quite a few of the quotes are old, and none are as explicit and as certain as the claims of Cheney and others in the maladministration.... Norm: They were wrong (to the extent they were definitive). And they're freakin' politicians, not the over-seer of the biggest intelligence machine on the face of the planet! Yeah, maybe they got it wrong. Do you really want to claim that Dubya's at least as gullible as Gore or Hillary, Norm? But if that's your claim, then come out and at least admit that little Dubya got DUPED!!! Acceptance is one of the steps to recovery.