Webloggin » "I Have No Idea And Really Don’t Care"

“Something clearly worked, because the voters decided to do what our Founding Fathers envisioned; they are trusting me to rock the boat down in Washington…voters are idiots.” - Ned Lamont 08/16/06

“I’m not planning on staying there forever, I said 12 years on purpose, I don’t see this as being a life-long thing. Unless I die before my two terms end.” - Paul Wellstone 1990

“I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.” - G.W. Bush, 3/13/02

What do these three quotes have in common?

None of them actually exist. One of them, however, is used tirelessly by either shameless propagandists or ignorant tools of shameless propagandists. For bonus points, guess which one it is?

All three are basically manipulated quotes with the intent being maliciousness rather than accuracy. It would be understandable if a couple of fly-by-night commentators used a made-up quote accidentally and then ceased doing so once they were informed of the error. But what I witness instead is a deliberate use of the Bush quote by people who should and probably do know better.

So why would someone have to stoop to continuously referencing a quote that doesn’t exist? Particularly a quote that can easily be looked up and shown to not exist? The Bush quote in question is attributed to a press conference. It’s true - Bush did give a press conference on 3/13/02. And yes, he did discuss Osama bin Laden. In fact, here is what he said, along with some passages that put his words in the context that the left never wants to talk about when citing their deceptive quote:

So I don’t know where he is. You know, I just don’t spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you. I’m more worried about making sure that our soldiers are well-supplied; that the strategy is clear; that the coalition is strong; that when we find enemy bunched up like we did in Shahikot Mountains, that the military has all the support it needs to go in and do the job, which they did.

That’s just a wee bit different than “I have no idea and I really don’t care”. If you want to make the case that this is indeed what he is saying then the obvious response is why not quote him accurately then if the meanings are the same? Why diminish your own integrity to promote a false quote if the much more effective measure of producing the accurate quote leads to the same conclusion? Well, because it doesn’t. Bush went on in his speech to say:

Deep in my heart I know the man is on the run, if he’s alive at all. Who knows if he’s hiding in some cave or not; we haven’t heard from him in a long time. And the idea of focusing on one person is — really indicates to me people don’t understand the scope of the mission.

Terror is bigger than one person.

Well, as I say, 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. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.

But once we set out the policy and started executing the plan, he became — we shoved him out more and more on the margins.

Funny how the context changes when we look at what he actually said rather than what we try to convince people he did say. If you still want to make the case that Bush said that he didn’t give a damn about Osama, then fine. Make your case, but then that’s even more reason to quote him accurately. Context is important and can be debated but not if it’s based on something undeniably false.

The reality is that many are perfectly willing to check their integrity at the door if they think they can get away with it. Mistakes are mistakes. Continuing to quote this non-quote is blatant dishonesty and those who insist on parroting this lie and have no shame about doing so needn’t be taken seriously on anything! If the substance of your views depends on pathetic deceptions like using quotes that don’t exist, then it may be time to question those views.

It certainly would seem to be time to review whatever source you may have found this quote on and reconsider using them in the future.

[Discuss this Topic with Otto at The Otto Show]