"Truth? We don't need no stinkin' truth!"

[Theophylact]

William Saletan (Slate) called the following "the most amazing quote of the 2004 campaign":

Once again, last night, with a straight face, the Senator said -- well, shall we say, refined his answer on his proposed global test. That's the test he would administer before defending America. After trying to say it really wasn't a test at all, last night he once again defended his approach, saying, I think it makes sense. (Laughter.) The Senator now says we'd have to pass some international truth standard. The truth is we should never turn America's national security decisions over to international bodies or leaders of other countries. (Applause.)

As Saletan says,

You heard that right. The president explicitly refuses "to pass some international truth standard." Because evidence is the fundamental test applied in France as well as in the United States, Bush thinks he shouldn't have to back up his claims or decisions with evidence.

Read the whole column; Saletan isn't basing his claim on just one throwaway line.

[osprey4]

Straw man.