Chris Matthews' renewed attacks on George W. Bush continued Tuesday as he accused the former President of having no real motive to go to war with Iraq in March 2003.
Implying that Bush was basically an idiot that was "in over his head," the "Hardball" host stated, "Maybe you ought to put this guy in a lie detector" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
DAVID CORN, MOTHER JONES: It seems really clear right now that what he's trying to do is portray himself as the guy who dealt with a hard problem, thought about it long and hard, and finally erred on the side of being more cautious than not. You know, our book “Hubris” that I did with Mike Isikoff opened months before that Cheney speech in which Bush is saying, Bush is telling Ari Fleischer, “I am going to kick Saddam Hussein's mother bleeping backside all over Iraq.’
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Okay, the guy was in over his head. Let’s move on. He’s in over his head, that’s the real problem here. He’s surrounded by ideologues that thought more about the Middle East than he ever thought about it for five minutes. He didn't understand all the various motives. He didn't even have a motive himself except maybe the old man, they tried to kill him. I wish somebody would do, maybe you ought to put this guy in a lie detector. I don't think you'd find that sodium pentothal he doesn’t know why he went to war.
Since Bush began talking about his new book, Matthews has been on a nightly crusade to bash him. Certainly, that's not a surprise.
But to say that Bush had no idea why he wanted to invade Iraq after 9/11 requires what Hillary Clinton would call a willing suspension of disbelief.
More importantly, it necessitates a high grade amnesia concerning all the Democrats that were banging the exact same war drums back then including a junior senator from New York who happens to be the current Secretary of State.
Of course, folks like Matthews and all the other liberal shills in the media conveniently forgot all those hawkish speeches by leading Democrats in the days and months before the invasion.
Apparently, the "Hardball" host's memory is still a bit cloudy about what happened in the early part of the last decade.
Maybe he should himself be put under a lie detector or given some sodium pentothal to determine whether what he's saying now is the truth or just a well-rehearsed cover story to bash a former president he hates while sheltering from blame members of the Party he admittedly belongs to and reveres.
