Salon: Fact-checking Bush

[kskiska]

By Tim Grieve

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There are the big whoppers, of course, like the administration's off-and-on efforts to link Saddam Hussein to the attacks of Sept. 11. But then there are the questionable tales of lesser consequence, like the one Bush tells nearly every day about his first visit to ground zero on Sept. 14, 2001. Bush says the experience remains "so vivid" in his memory that it "might as well have happened yesterday." But each time Bush repeats his ground zero story, the tale gets a little better in the retelling -- an evolution that the reporters who cover Bush regularly don't bother to chronicle. It's the kind of evolving story that would have landed Al Gore in a heap of trouble four years ago.

When Bush first started telling the ground zero story, in February of this year, he'd say he remembered walking through the ruins and seeing "a guy pointing at me and saying, 'Don't let me down.'" By March, Bush had the "guy" saying, "'Mr. President, never let me down."

One morning in May, Bush said: "I clearly remember a guy in a hard hat" who said, "'Don't let me down.'" Later that same day, Bush said: "I'll never forget the firefighter that pointed at me and said, 'Don't let me down.'" By June, the "guy" had become a whole group of "tired firefighters and police and rescue workers" who said, "'Don't let us down.'" By July, the "guy" was just a guy again, but Bush couldn't remember which kind: "I remember a fireman or a policeman, I can't remember which one, looking me in the eyes and saying, 'Do not let me down.'"

At about the same time, the guy -- whoever he was -- started getting physical. No longer did he merely point at the passing president; he "grabbed me by the arm," Bush said. One morning in July, Bush said the grabber "was a policeman or a fireman, I don't know which one, but he had tears in his eyes." By that afternoon, the guy had become a "firefighter" again, with "bloodshot eyes and sweat pouring."

And it kept getting better. In early August, Bush said: "I don't know if he was a firefighter or a policeman -- I do know that he was looking through the rubble for one of his buddies." A week after that, Bush said the guy had been searching for "a loved one." One day later, he had been searching for "somebody that he worked with." And the day after that, he was searching for a "buddy" again, but this time he said: "Mr. President, do not let me down." Two weeks later, Bush had him saying, "You don't let me down."

And on Sept. 14, 2004 -- the third anniversary of the president's visit to ground zero -- Bush offered up his most vivid memory yet. "I remember a guy grabbed me the arm, a big old burly firefighter, I guess he was a firefighter, he said: 'Do not let me down.'"

It was, the president said, "a day I'll never forget."

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http://salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/30/debate/index.html