It's opposite day at the Whitehouse

I have to confess I got a queasy feeling in my stomach when I read this:
Powell Acknowledges Errors in Annual Terrorism Report

It isn't like it's a small little error. It isn't like maybe the page was printed crooked or one of the graphs was upside down or something. The entire report was absolute garbage.

Salon's Joe Conason says that the report was given with much fanfare in the belief that Terrorism had sharply decreased:

On April 29, the department released the report's 2003 edition with considerable fanfare. Presenting its optimistic findings at a special press conference were Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Ambassador at Large J. Cofer Black, the former CIA official who serves as the department's coordinator for counterterrorism. While acknowledging that terror continues to take a terrible toll, Armitage emphasized that the United States is fighting back with a worldwide coalition of allies. 'Indeed, he said, "you will find in these pages clear evidence that we are prevailing in the fight.'

Unfortuately, this is simply not true:

The moment of truth came on May 17. A sharp Washington Post opinion piece by Princeton economist Alan Krueger and Stanford political scientist David Laitin sliced "Patterns 2003" to shreds. Their review showed that the "number of significant terrorist acts increased from 124 in 2001 to 169 in 2003," or 36 percent, and that "the number of terrorist events has risen each year since 2001, and in 2003 reached its highest level in more than 20 years."

Powell, of course, denied any political purpose in the "errors." He also has to be credited with giving an immediate confession. But do you notice that it is always up to other people to blow the whistle on these jerks? And do you notice how the "mistakes" always seem to benefit them?

I do not believe there are any lengths to which these people will not go to preserve their power. The one thing, God knows why, that people believe about president Bush is that he is more capable than Kerry of protecting the US. He has to maintain that image. His campaign depends on it. If he can't do that...look for him to cheat in other ways.

A lie of this magnitude is an impeachable offense, in my opinion. Think for a minute about the process through which a report like this must go. Do you think "mistakes" like these just happen to appear? I don't. I think Bush is lying to you about your safety for the express purpose of political gain. If Bush doesn't fire someone over this, he should be impeached. I have resisted that call. But this is too much for me. He just has to go.