“If You Tell a Lie Big Enough…

…and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” Hitler’s propaganda meister, Joseph Goebbels, made that statement. It didn’t take long for President Bush to bring up September 11 in his State of the Union speech last night. He said, “On Sept. 11, 2001, we found that problems originating in a failed and oppressive state 7,000 miles away could bring murder and destruction to our country.” If the Prez was referring to Iraq as perpetrating the 9/11 attack, it’s a lie which he well may have come to believe. God knows, he tells it often enough. If he was referring to Saudi Arabia, the country of origin of the hi-jackers who piloted the suicide planes, he’s on shaky ground reminding us of that horrendous fact. The Prez was a long-time hand-holding buddy of Saudi Prince Bandar, and the Bush administration helped 40 Saudis flee from America the day after the attack. That Saudi Arabia is an oppressive state is true. That it brought murder and destruction to our country is also true. But it is far from a failed state. And since the President has continually claimed that Iraq was behind 9/11, it’s a good bet he was telling that lie again. The Prez said that his tax cuts have helped the worker bees in America. He said, “In the last five years, the tax relief you passed has left $880 billion in the hands of American workers, investors, small businesses and families.” Not true. OMB Watch, a non-profit organization dedicated to “promoting accountability in government” says the two new tax cuts “will primarily wind up in the pockets of the rich, who have already benefited enormously under Bush--such as those with annual incomes of over $1 million who have received an average windfall of $103,000 in 2005 from the president's first-term tax cuts.” Supposedly, the Prez was going to tell us about new health care plans. In fact, he devoted one paragraph of his speech to health care and it was pie in the sky. “For all Americans, we must confront the rising cost of care, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship and help people afford the insurance coverage they need. We will make wider use of electronic records and other health information technology to help control costs and reduce dangerous medical errors. We will strengthen health savings accounts by making sure individuals and small business employees can buy insurance with the same advantages that people working for big businesses now get. We will do more to make this coverage portable, so workers can switch jobs without having to worry about losing their health insurance.” Uh-huh. Exactly how and exactly when is this going to happen? The day after never? He said, “A hopeful society comes to the aid of fellow citizens in times of suffering and emergency and stays at it until they are back on their feet.” What a crock! Congress voted to cut Medicaid to the elderly and poor last week. He said, “A hopeful society acts boldly to fight diseases like H.I.V./AIDS which can be prevented and treated and defeated.” The easiest way to defeat AIDS in Africa is by promoting the use of condoms, which the Prez won’t allow. He said, “Human life is a gift from our creator, and that gift should never be discarded, devalued or put up for sale.” And yet, as of yesterday, 2,243 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq because the Bush administration wanted to take over the world and decided to start its global aggression in the Middle East. But the capper was when he said, “To confront the great issues before us, we must act in a spirit of good will and respect for one another, and I will do my part.” First, Mr. Twitch-Tic-and-Smirk, you have to stop lying about acting in a spirit of good will and respect.