Wednesday, October 06, 2004
On this day:

Dems Repeat Edwards Lie

There's a new video on the Democratic National Committee's website called "Cheney vs. Reality." In it, they claim that Cheney lied in last night's debate when he said, "I have not suggested that there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11."

To support this allegation, the DNC refers to a statement by Cheney in an NPR interview when he said, "I think there's overwhelming evidence that there was a connection between al-Qaeda and the Iraqi government." They also play a clip from a "Meet the Press" interview with Tim Russert where Cheney says that he is not surprised by a poll showing that 69% of Americans believed that Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attacks.

But, it is Cheney who told the truth. In the "Meet the Press" interview segment shown in the DNC video, Cheney was merely responding to poll results, saying that they were not surprising. At another point in the very same interview, Cheney did allude to the Iraqi government's ties to al-Qaeda, but specifically stated that he was not implying a direct Iraqi connection to the 9/11 attacks. Cheney again repeated the Iraq/al-Qaeda claim at last night's debate.

Pointing out the ties between Iraq and al-Qaeda is different from implying a direct link between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks. Either the Democrats are not bright enough to understand this distinction or they are intentionally distorting the Vice President's comments in a manner worthy of Michael Moore.