"I Never Said There Was An Operational Relationship"

A week ago, I noted in this post the contrast between comments President Bush made at a press conference in August, and the facts contained in the recently-released Senate Intelligence Committee report. To recap, Bush said the following on August 21st:

I square it because, imagine a world in which you had Saddam Hussein who had the capacity to make a weapon of mass destruction, who was paying suiciders to kill innocent life, who would -- who had relations with Zarqawi.

The Senate report said this:

Postwar information indicates that Saddam Hussein attempted, unsuccessfully, to locate and capture al-Zarqawi and that the regime did not have a relationship with, harbor, or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi. Postwar information from an al-Qa'ida detainee indicated that Saddam's regime "considered al-Zarqawi an outlaw" and blamed his network, operating in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, for two bombings in Baghdad.

This past Friday, ABC's Martha Raddatz asked the president the following:

Mr. President, you have said throughout the war in Iraq and building up to the war in Iraq that there was a relationship between Saddam Hussein and Zarqawi and al Qaeda. A Senate Intelligence Committee report a few weeks ago said there was no link, no relationship, and that the CIA knew this and issued a report last fall. And, yet, a month ago you were still saying there was a relationship. Why did you keep saying that? Why do you continue to say that? And do you still believe that?

Bush's response:

The point I was making to Ken Herman's question was that Saddam Hussein was a state sponsor of terror, and that Mr. Zarqawi was in Iraq. He had been wounded in Afghanistan, had come to Iraq for treatment. He had ordered the killing of a U.S. citizen in Jordan. I never said there was an operational relationship. I was making the point that Saddam Hussein had been declared a state sponsor of terror for a reason, and, therefore, he was dangerous.

Denial wrapped in circular reasoning and non sequiturs. When confronted with the inconvenient truth, just say anything.

By the way, if you didn't catch the press conference live on Friday, watch the tape here. It really was something -- the gesticulating, the glowering, the shouting, and the desperation. Listen, I know the "Bush is dangerous/insane/drinking again" meme is a popular one on some of the more strident liberal blogs. But if you saw that press conference and didn't worry that this is an executive-in-chief on the edge and in need of a major brake job courtesy of the midterm elections, you're a lot more optimistic than I am.