Bush digs in on Musharraf

UPDATED WITH VIDEO

Apparently determined to reinforce his image as a man incapable of admitting a mistake, President Bush is voicing strong support for Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf.

President Bush yesterday offered his strongest support of embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, saying the general "hasn't crossed the line" and "truly is somebody who believes in democracy."

Bush spoke nearly three weeks after Musharraf declared emergency rule, sacked members of the Supreme Court and began a roundup of journalists, lawyers and human rights activists. Musharraf's government yesterday released about 3,000 political prisoners, although 2,000 remain in custody, according to the Interior Ministry.

[...]

Several outside analysts and a key Democratic lawmaker expressed incredulity over Bush's comments and called them a sign of how personally invested the president has become in the U.S. relationship with Musharraf.

"What exactly would it take for the president to conclude Musharraf has crossed the line? Suspend the constitution? Impose emergency law? Beat and jail his political opponents and human rights activists?" asked Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a presidential candidate. "He's already done all that. If the president sees Musharraf as a democrat, he must be wearing the same glasses he had on when he looked in Vladimir Putin's soul."

Of course, the most disturbing answer is that maybe Bush really doesn't think Musharraf has crossed the line. Maybe he actually envies Musharraf, and can't wait to apply the Pakistan model here at home.

They don't call 'em "Busharraf" for nothing.

UPDATE [Via ThinkProgress]

Bush made his remarks about Musharraf in an interview with ABC World News anchor Charlie Gibson.



The clip is amazing.

Bush begins by praising Musharraf for having "advanced democracy." This in reference to a military dictator who seized power in a coup, recently suspended his country's constitution, jailed political opponents, and packed the supreme court with loyalists who dismissed challenges to his re-election under emergency rule.

There is no other way to say this: Bush is either a degenerate liar, or the most alarmingly ignorant man ever to occupy the Oval Office.