Third Presidential Debate Fact Check

The Washington Post, among numerous others, provides an excellent fact check of the many inaccuracies, misstatements and pure, unvarnished untruths uttered by the President during the third presidential debate.

While there's no need to recount them all here, one, in particular, stuck in my craw. Later mentioned by Al Franken on Air American Radio (he was apparently channeling my thoughts through the radio waves), the one that stuck was Bush's implication that Kerry's claim that Bush had said, six months after 9/11, that he wasn't particularly concerned about Osama bin Laden, was a lie.

Here's the Kerry statement during the debate:

"SCHIEFFER: Anything to add, Senator Kerry?

KERRY: Yes. When the president had an opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, he took his focus off of them, outsourced the job to Afghan warlords, and Osama bin Laden escaped.

Six months after he said Osama bin Laden must be caught dead or alive, this president was asked, "Where is Osama bin Laden? " He said, "I don't know. I don't really think about him very much. I'm not that concerned. "

We need a president who stays deadly focused on the real war on terror."

to which Bush replied...

"SCHIEFFER: Mr. President?

BUSH: Gosh, I just don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. It's kind of one of those exaggerations."

Gosh. What doesn't come across in the transcript is that Bush stretched the word "ex-ag-ger-a-tions" to about nine syllables, each one accentuated with his characteristic smirk and bovine stare. What occurred to me at the time (and what was later echoed by Al Franken via his telepathic channel) is that Bush appeared to have been experiencing a flashback to the 2000 campaign, when he and his spin mill did everything they could to paint Al Gore as a "reckless exaggerator". Problem is, no one's ever accused the current candidate, John Kerry, of reckless exaggeration. The other problem is, Kerry's quotation of the president's words was practically verbatim.

From the Washington Post:

'Bush said Kerry's comment about Osama bin Laden was "one of those exaggerations," but in a news conference on March 13, 2002, Bush said when asked about the search for the al Qaeda leader: "So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him. . . . We haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him."

In a way, Bush was right. Whereas Kerry accused Bush of saying "I'm not that concerned", what Bush actually said was "I truly am not that concerned." Thank you, Mr. President, for pointing out the exaggeration.