The Projectionists (Mildly Updated)

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Above: Blogs for Bush in effect

We’ve Heard This Story Before

I have a feeling so have we.

With eight days before the midterm elections, the New York Times ran a front page story today alleging that “the American military has not properly tracked hundreds of thousands of weapons intended for Iraqi security forces.â€? Does sthis story sound a bit familiar to you? It should.

On October 25, 2004, “coincidentally” eight days before the president election, the New York Times published a story that falsely alleged missing weapons at the al Qa’qaa weapons facility in Iraq.

‘Coincidentally’ in scare-quotes means that an Iraqi report of October 10th, 2004, “just happened” to say “the following”:

We would like to inform you that the following materials which have been included in annex 3 (item 74) registered under IAEA custody were lost after 9 April 2003, through the theft and looting of the governmental installations due to lack of security. Therefore we feel an urgent updating of the registered materials is required.

Whereas, ‘falsely alleging’ means that the Army cleared everything up a few days after the Times piece appeared by being all like, “Uh, we totally…uh, have all that stuff after all. Whatever it was.”

Which is good enough for Blogs for Bush any day.

But then there was this:

Some of the 380 tons of high explosives (HMX, RDX and PETN) that were stolen from the Al-Qaqaa military depot in Iraq last year could show up in Europe [or elsewhere] along with people experienced in building creatively disguised bombs. American experience in fighting these insurgents and in identifying their tactics and handiwork can help Europe thwart a potential, devastating new wave of terrorism. The time for increased information and intelligence sharing is now, before a wave of terrorism perfected in Iraq arrives in Europe.

And then of course there was this:

London – British investigators believe that the 10-pound bombs used in the coordinated terrorist attacks here contained “military quality” high-grade explosives, British and European counterterrorism officials said Monday. Investigators said they still did not know whether the explosives contained plastic materials, or were made some other way. But they said the material used in the bombs was similar to the kind manufactured for military use or made for highly technical commercial purposes, such as dynamite used for precision explosions to demolish buildings or in mining.

It’s amazing what you can pack inside one little weasel term like ‘falsely alleging.’ But now comes the inevitable 180-degree Wingnut Twistaround, where they bald-assedly accuse others of exactly their own motives and deeds:

Looks like the media is trying to pull another phony October Surprise. We already knew they had an agenda, but they could have tried a different kind of story this time.

Posted by Matt at October 30, 2006 01:52 PM

Another kind of story like…say, how ’bout this one:

Saddam Verdict Is Expected on Nov. 5
Court official says verdict in Saddam Hussein trial will be announced on Nov. 5

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 16, 2006
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press Writer
(AP) A verdict against Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants charged with crimes against humanity in connection with an anti-Shiite crackdown in the 1980s will be announced Nov. 5, a senior court official said on Monday.

Sentences for those found guilty will be issued the same day, chief investigating judge Raid Juhi told The Associated Press.

UPDATE: Here’s another ‘October Surprise’ charge from Ace of Spades HQ from today, featuring a double-somersault hall-of-mirrors projective accusation of projection. Ace is good; the boy’s clearly going places.

[Linx: TPM Cafe]

 

Comments: 28

 
 
 

Just crossing my fingers that the average voter is not dumb enough to be swayed by a Saddam conviction. After all, it isn’t as though anyone expected him to walk. Not much of a ‘surprise’. I hope.

 
 

Too bad (for Saddam) that Johnnie Cochran is dead. He would have SO walked with the Chewbacca defense.

As for that brain-killing nonsense from Blogs for Bush … Lincoln was right. You CAN fool some of the people all of the time. Unfortunately, those people who are foolable ALL of the time just aren’t going to do you any good in the long run because they are just too lame.

 
 

My favorite example of Wingnut Projection Syndrome:

The Democrats are going to fix the elections with help from Hugo Chavez because one of the voting machine companies has Venezuelan ties.

I think that my sputterer is actually broken.

Also, I have no monocles left as they have all fallen out of my eye one by one.

 
Smiling Mortician
 

Oh, yeah. Johnnie Cochran is dead, isn’t he? Time flies.

Anyway, let me see if I’ve got this right (I’ve been trying to learn GopSpeak): When we say “falsely alleged,” we mean “said something that is probably true but we don’t like it and anyway if you say it out loud then you’re probably a traitor.”

Did I get that right? I have a test next week, and I’d really like someone to check my homework.

BTW, their “Democrat party” thing might not be a weirdly ineffective but purposeful slur after all, but rather a syntactic deficiency, given that they also say things like “President election.” Their grammar is objectively anti-adjective, and on behalf of modifiers everywhere, I’d like to declare war, or at least a police action. C’mon, adverbs and prepositional phrases, who’s with me?

 
 

Wow, I had no idea that Dr. Mohammed Abbas from Iraq’s Ministry of Science and Technology was a Democratic operative.

 
 

I suspect this is diversity’s fault.

 
 

Yeah.. of course the people running the show in Iraq are all “Democrat Operatives”… why else would things be going so wrong?

 
 

I suspect this is diversity’s fault.

Bingo. We have a winner. Winner, winner, chicken dinner. This is my new story. For everything. Hemlock, you’re a genius.

My Boss: Michael, why is this script incomplete? And where are the graphics for the slates?

Me: Boss, I suspect this is diversity’s fault.

Oh, this is gonna serve me well. Where should I send the royalty checks?

mikey

 
LA Confidential Pantload
 

..unlike the true allegations of excess bullshit leaking from the el-CaCa facility of Blogs for Bush.

 
Smiling Mortician
 

Just last week Diversity ate my homework and then broke a vase in the living room.

 
 

Diversity got my dog pregnant.

 
 

Not to be crude, but Unity was in me at the time. I was distracted.

 
 

Fuckin Diversity….

mikey

 
 

What can I say, I’m a slut. Comes with the territory.

 
 

Serves you all right, l00zers. You had your chance but you went off with that fl00zie. Don’t come crying back to me now.

 
 

Could we just sentence Hussein to be airdropped into Tikrit? Then we all walk stiffly to the door–and spend the rest of the decade selling the world on the “Bobby Ewing” theory of the inexplicable Iraqi instability?

 
Smiling Mortician
 

Well, if those damn Iraqis weren’t so diverse . . .

 
 

I wonder if anybody in the USA is going to pay attention to the Saddam verdict given: 1) that it’s coming out on a Sunday and 2) after he was captured, he became someone else’s problem. I’m guessing that when (or if) they finally hear about the verdict, some Americans’ll say, “Well, whatever,” and others will ask, “Why are we still in frikkin’ Iraq?”

 
 

Hmmm… I wonder if “thenthelightningwill” in the comments to that Musgrave video is related to our own commenter, “ifthethunderdontgetya”… If not, then I think we may have to introduce them.

 
 

actually, while diversity has caused most of the problems in iraq (hand in hand with the “Democrat” party, still trying to learn how to be an adjective AND YOU CAN BLAME the liberals for that), i think you overlook busing at your peril. forcing sunni and shia to go to the same public school in south boston is typical liberal something or other.

and what’s left over is the fault of amnesty. and abortion.

and acid. delicious acid.

 
 

Dan Someone,

I’ve had the privilege of meeting this thenthelightningwill gentleman. Brilliant fellow, absolutely brilliant.

 
 

Saddam who?

 
 

I am just wondering who is voting Republican this year? They control congress, the supreme court and the presidency. Under their ideaolgy and leadership, as a nation we have had greater debt, a major economic down turn that is just now recovering, and this whole war on terror thing, I feel more threatened now then ever before?! Any negative news is deemed liberal bias. Any postitive news is trumped up. Let’s face it, the corporate media is about an agenda, but that agenda isn’t driving by ideals. It’s driven by ratings and money. The right controls everything and then goes off like they are some minority being picked on!?!?!? WTF? Back to the thread. The same paper that would print this article would love to also print the Saddam Verdict. It’s not about party.

 
 

Oh. I thought they were talking about the several thousand (I think 60K? Maybe lower) brand new Ak-47s that was supposed to go to the new Iraqi “military” (sarcasm quotes! You bring the game to our court, you best be knowing how to play, fool!) that left from some NATO country, went accross, unescorted, into non-NATO Eastern Europe, and promptly vanished.

So, do they bother with any sort of, I dunno, five minute investigation about the article that ran to check it out and see what the deal is, or just go “pfff, [I]MEDIA[/I]” and click “submit”?
*sigh* you can’t fight this level of stupid.

 
 

Diversity, why the hell is this big pile of ungraded papers still here?

 
Smiling Mortician
 

Silly Sniper, don’t you know that grading is a construct of the judgmental forces of conformity, and is therefore objectively anti-diversity? Let ’em sit there. And have another drink . . .

 
 

My wingnut co-worker always blames all the world’s problems on “appeasement.” I’ll have to run this diversity thing by him. I bet he loves it.

 
 

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