Those inconvenient facts: When faced with a weapons inspectors' report that states that not only was there no WMDs in Iraq, but Saddam Hussein's weapon-builiding capabilities were weakening not strengthening, George and Dick revert to a favorite strategy: utter denial. Cheney asserted that the damning report actually buttressed his rationale for preemptive war in Iraq. Bush, right after admitting there were no WMD stockpiles, inexplicably said, "[Saddam] retained the knowledge, the material, the means and the intent to produce weapons of mass destruction and he could have passed that knowledge on to our terrorist enemies." And what evidence will he pull from his presidential posterior to back that one up? Didn't we just hear that Hussein had no such material, his intentions aside?

It's just another brazen fib by the Bushies, part of a pattern Paul Krugman discusses in today's column, "Ignorance isn't strength":

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have an unparalleled ability to insulate themselves from inconvenient facts. They lead a party that controls all three branches of government, and face news media that in some cases are partisan supporters, and in other cases are reluctant to state plainly that officials aren't telling the truth. They also still enjoy the residue of the faith placed in them after 9/11. This has allowed them to engage in what Orwell called 'reality control.' In the world according to the Bush administration, our leaders are infallible, and their policies always succeed. If the facts don't fit that assumption, they just deny the facts. As a political strategy, reality control has worked very well. But as a strategy for governing, it has led to predictable disaster.

A liar, yes, but a cheater? I've been watching this one on the blogs the past few days, but now that Salon.com is reporting on it, I'll join in. Can Bush's blathering performance at the first debate be blamed on the fact that he was secretly wired? (I wish they'd stop referring to Bush's "mystery bulge"--the alleged electronic device concealed under his jacked--which conjures memories of the president's flight-suit malfunction, then dubbed "Bush's basket.")