Huffington Post's ridiculous accusation against Bush

The Huffington Post has done it again.  This site has gone from being a liberal "news" site to the laughing stock of the Internet.  They actually are accusing Former President George W. Bush of plagiarizing because he quoted his own words in his new book.

From the article:
"Bush writes: "Tommy told the national security team that he was working to apply the same concept of a light footprint to Iraq... 'If we have multiple, highly skilled Special Operations forces identifying targets for precision-guided munitions, we will need fewer conventional grounds forces,' he said. 'That's an important lesson learned from Afghanistan.' I had a lot of concerns. ... I asked the team to keep working on the plan. 'We should remain optimistic that diplomacy and international pressure will succeed in disarming the regime,' I said at the end of the meeting. 'But we cannot allow weapons of mass destruction to fall into the hands of terrorists. I will not allow that to happen.'"

Franks, in his memoir American Soldier, writes: "'For example, if we have multiple, highly skilled Special Operations forces identifying targets for precision-guided munitions, we will need fewer conventional ground forces. That's an important lesson learned from Afghanistan.' President Bush's questions continued throughout the briefing.... Before the VTC ended, President Bush addressed us all. 'We should remain optimistic that diplomacy and international pressure will succeed in disarming the regime.' ... The President paused. 'Protecting the security of the United States is my responsibility,' he continued. 'But we cannot allow weapons of mass destruction to fall into the hands of terrorists.' He shook his head. 'I will not allow that to happen.'"

So, literally, Bush made these comments which were quoted in the memior mentioned above, and then years later as Bush writes his own memior, he quotes himself. 

The accusation that this is plagiarism is so beyond ridiculous that it is hard to know where to start.  The President said it, then the President said that he said it.  I guess after Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address and once it had been published and printed by those in attendance, he could never again quote his own words "Four score and seven years ago" because that would be plagiarism.

This is a despicable and unforgivable attempt to get the headline "Bush plagiarized" out there so that people will see it and believe it.  Arianna Huffington should be absolutely ashamed of herself and her staff for letting such a fabrication of lies make its way to the Internet. 

As I've been writing in earlier blogs, Bush is a principled man who was President during a very tough time in history.  He spent his presidency making difficult decisions, but he made them based on his values and based on his faith.  You may not agree with everything he ever did (which I don't and even he doesn't), but he deserves respect.  His name has been slandered enough.  He is a punching bag for the Left who are so far gone from any kind of realistic view of things that their accusations are laughable if they didn't make you want to cry for the impact that they have on people who see these headlines and actually believe them.

I believe in the freedom of speech, but I am horrified at the misuse of this right.  The person that wrote this article should be fired immediately and Arianna Huffington should post a public apology to Bush for this libel.