In a particularly sleazy allegation, David Letterman on Tuesday night alleged former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney “went soft” on finding Osama bin Laden “because they were worried about upsetting their Saudi Arabian royalty buddies.” Talk about a lack of civility and respect for elected officials.
Letterman’s impugning of the former administration came during a sit-down with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, just after Letterman charged “we invaded Iraq because Cheney wanted to help out his buddies at Brown and Root and Halliburton.”
He then moved on to his allegation about protecting the Saudi Arabian royalty before hailing the “great courage and great intelligence” displayed by President Obama: “So now Osama bin Laden finally is gunned down by Barack Obama, displaying great courage and great intelligence. What more do you want to lead your country than that kind of courage and that kind of intelligence?”
As if Obama personally “gunned down” bin Laden.
Audio: Matching MP3 clip [1]
A few minutes later, Letterman, in complete nanny state mode, pleaded: “What more do we want this man to do for us, honest to God?”
From 2008: “Letterman on Bush/Cheney: ‘Any Humanity in Either of These Guys [2]?’” (Video [3])
From the Tuesday, May 15 Late Show with David Letterman on CBS:
DAVID LETTERMAN: The day after the 9/11 attacks, the number one priority in America, if not the world, was we've got to get bin Laden, we’ve got to get bin Laden. So eight years go by, we still haven't gotten bin Laden. George W. Bush at one point said, well he doesn't really think too much about bin Laden. In the interim, we invaded Afghanistan then we invaded Iraq because Cheney wanted to help out his buddies at Brown and Root and Halliburton.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: You're getting a little sideways here, Dave.
LETTERMAN: Okay. And grab up all the oil. I think that they went soft on the project because they were worried about upsetting their Saudi Arabian royalty buddies. So now Osama bin Laden finally is gunned down by Barack Obama, displaying great courage and great intelligence. What more do you want to lead your country than that kind of courage and that kind of intelligence? (Audience applause)
-- Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here [4] to follow Brent Baker on Twitter.