Iraqi WMDs: Contradiction in the American Leftist Mind

Rightwingnews.com has a nice compendium of what Democrats were saying about Iraqi WMDs in the years and months leading up to our invasion.

Here's a quick sample:

"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction." -- Bob Graham, December 2002

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction." -- Ted Kennedy, September 27, 2002

"I will be voting to give the president of the United States the authority to use force - if necessary - to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." -- John F. Kerry, Oct 2002

"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandates of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them." -- Carl Levin, Sept 19, 2002

"Over the years, Iraq has worked to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. During 1991 - 1994, despite Iraq's denials, U.N. inspectors discovered and dismantled a large network of nuclear facilities that Iraq was using to develop nuclear weapons. Various reports indicate that Iraq is still actively pursuing nuclear weapons capability. There is no reason to think otherwise. Beyond nuclear weapons, Iraq has actively pursued biological and chemical weapons.U.N. inspectors have said that Iraq's claims about biological weapons is neither credible nor verifiable. In 1986, Iraq used chemical weapons against Iran, and later, against its own Kurdish population. While weapons inspections have been successful in the past, there have been no inspections since the end of 1998. There can be no doubt that Iraq has continued to pursue its goal of obtaining weapons of mass destruction." -- Patty Murray, October 9, 2002

Those quotes, today, in and of themselves, are unremarkable.

What is remarkable is how American Leftists are reconciling the notion that their own Liberal representatives bought into the faulty WMD intel while claiming that President Bush lied about Iraqi WMDs. They all said the same thing. It was only Bush that lied.

For weeks American Leftists have had a difficult time countering these quotes. But now they have a new mantra: that Bush knew the intel was wrong (or "sexed up"), and that Congressional Democrats were simply fooled by it.

What makes this so contradictory is the image American Leftists have painted upon George W. Bush in their slanted and Florida2000-ired minds; they have maintained all along that Bush is incurious, intellectually superficial, and, well, dumb.

So, the question now is this:

Why is it that:

= the intelligent, inquisitive, and logical minds of the Democratic Congressional gang were fooled by the Iraqi WMD intel, yet:

= the addlebrained and thought-challenged President Bush saw through the intel?

Smart Democrats were fooled, the dumb President saw the truth.

You got that? How?