Imaginary Conversations and Random Thoughts

I'm sure you know this by now, but it turns out Bush was right on the money. The video mentioned "overtopping," not breaching. I'm sure some people will say po-tay-to, po-tah-to, water got in BUSH LIED!!!! No. Overtopping is a specific and distinct event from breaching. A levee that's twenty feet tall will stop water as long as the water doesn't rise above twenty feet. Yes, if water goes to twenty-one feet, it will flow over the top of the levee, but this is not a failure of the levee. The levee completely fulfilled the specifications of its design. A levee breaches if the levee wall itself breaks or collapses, allowing water in. These are not the same thing. Bush was warned about overtopping, but not breaching. When he says they didn't anticipate a breach, it's because they didn't.

It was a pretty dirty trick by the AP. I guess it's a pick'em between stunning ignorance or stunning bias on the part of the reporter. But you can't tell me that among all these follow on reporters, none of them knew the difference. It's just another chance to get Bush.

As I said, you must know all this by now. I wonder, once you realized the truth, did you ask yourself, "How could I have believed Bush would lie like that? Why did I take that report at face value?" They're interesting questions because a moment like this is a sort of litmus test, a what-will-you-do-when-the-chips-are-down situation. This could have been a real blow to Bush. And no one likes to be a dupe.

But since everyone does like an O. Henry ending, let us ponder the fact that the only lie in this story was told by the AP.