Just because they say it doesn't mean it's true

This week, Mike Huckabee, Arkansas' mental midget of a governor, was in a snit because the state supreme court refused to allow discrimination against gay foster parents. He huffed and puffed that the court lacked concern for "what's good for (the) children needing foster care." Mouthbreather Mike's basis for opining that gay parents aren't "good" for children in the foster care system?

Little more than his own say so.

In applying such airtight logic, Huckabee follows in the rich GOP tradition of trying to manufacture truth through repetition. Of course, this only works if they have the complicity of the dutiful stenographers posing as journalists in the nation's newsrooms. Unfortunately, more often than not, they're all too willing to oblige rather than risk not being included with the kewl kidz and invited to all the great cocktail parties. Though Huckabee was the latest, it's really been a banner week for this garbage.

On the NYT's story that divulged no operational knowledge, and actually fell far short of other already published information:

President Bush said Monday it was "disgraceful" that the news media had disclosed a secret CIA-Treasury program to track millions of financial records in search of terrorist suspects. The White House accused The New York Times of breaking a long tradition of keeping wartime secrets.

"The fact that a newspaper disclosed it makes it harder to win this war on terror," Bush said, leaning forward and jabbing his finger during a brief question-and-answer session with reporters in the Roosevelt Room. -- 06/27/06

Since he can't lead, El Presidente begins to campaign:

"There's a group in the opposition party who are willing to retreat before the mission is done," he said. "They're willing to wave the white flag of surrender. And if they succeed, the United States will be worse off, and the world will be worse off." -- George Bush, 06/28/06

And finally, responding to the SCOTUS' stunning realization that they're a co-equal branch of government:

White House counselor Dan Bartlett says the administration's task now is to determine how to design military tribunals that will pass constitutional muster. Bartlett says Bush could portray any lawmaker who objects to legislation as supporting the release of dangerous terrorists. -- 06/30/06

The same thing is missing in every case: anything bearing even the slightest resemblance to a fact supporting the slanderous assertion in question.

How was the war on terror compromised?

Who wants to wave the white flag of surrender?

Who supports releasing terrorists and how does not nodding dumbly at whatever the Bushistas recommend signify that?

Time and again, ridiculous assertions like these are met with unconditional acceptance, and repeated ad nauseum. In an all-too-rare display of journalistic spine, the Today show's Matt Lauer called out Dan Barlett, Bush toadie extraordinaire, on those flag-waving surrender monkeys that his boss is hallucinating about:

LAUER: The white flag of surrender — that’s a very dramatic and harsh expression to use against the Democrats. Have you heard any Democrats calling for the white flag of surrender?

BARTLETT: Well, I have heard a lot of Democrats call this President a liar, saying we’ve gone into Iraq for the wrong reasons, saying that he’s incomptent. So there is a lot of heated rhetoric in Washington. But what we see in the heart wrenching developments, when we see our 2 soldiers lose their lives in such a horrific way, is that we’re up against a very determined enemy. This is an epic struggle in which we have to be committed to winning.

Don't seem to hear a name, there, Dan...