It seems that there is now some question over who wrote Prime Minister Allawi's glowing speech about our great progress in Iraq last week. This speech, if you recall, has been widely touted by Bush as an example of the "progress" we're making in marching freedom forward in the Middle East. More importantly, perhaps, are the criticisms leveled by the Kerry campaign following the speech. Kerry said it was further proof of Bush's denial of reality, while one of his key aides said that it made Allawi look like a puppet of the US.
As you'd expect, Bush hit back and hit back hard, including tonight, when over and over again he brought up these criticisms as an example of why someone who sends "mixed messages" isn't "fit" to be Commander in Chief.
Well...
Last week, DailyKos had an interesting posting that detailed the many similarities between language used by the Bush campaign and language used in this speech. A few more people in the Blogsphere picked up on this theme, and then...
Dana Milbank from the Washington Post picked up on the theme, mostly (although not totally) dismissing the idea of overt coordination.
But today, it seems more information is forthcoming, and it's got Sen. Feinstein (D- CA) in a huff:
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - In a letter to the White House, a leading US Senate Democrat expressed "profound dismay" that the White House allegedly wrote a large portion of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's speech to Congress last week.
"I want to express my profound dismay about reports that officials from your administration and your reelection campaign were 'heavily involved' in writing parts of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's speech," California Senator Dianne Feinstein wrote in a letter to President George W. Bush. "You may be surprised by this, Mr. President, but I viewed Prime Minister Allawis speech as an independent view on conditions in Iraq ," she wrote. "His speech gave me hope that reconstruction efforts were proceeding in most of the country and that elections could be held on schedule." "To learn that this was not an independent view, but one that was massaged by your campaign operatives, jaundices the speech and reduces the credibility of his remarks," Feinstein wrote. Her letter was a response to an article appearing in Thursday's Washington Post, which also alleged that Allawi was coached by US officials -- including Dan Senor, former spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq-- in perfecting his delivery of the speech delivered before a joint session of Congress one week ago. |
So... of it turns out he was coached, or worse, that we did ghost write his speech for him... Doesn't that make the puppet comment true? And doesn't it mean that not only is Kerry's criticism not out of bounds but correct?
More details as they arrive...
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