Binnie, to go along with what the majority things is a logical fallacy, an appeal to majority. It's like saying if everyone else jumps off a cliff we should do it too. The majority of people get their information from the media and don't go to the sources themselves. When I want to know the truth about something I try to go to the original sources, and I don't understand why a person would side with a "majority" when that majority hasn't done this extra research.
If you read it, it's clear that Cheney was talking about acquiring nuclear weapons and restarting the nuclear program. In context, Cheney NEVER said that Hussein had nuclear weapons. At one point in the interview Cheney said that "we believe he has reconstituted nuclear weapons," but in context it's clear that he meant "reconstituted nuclear weapons program." How do I know this? Because that's what he said several other times during the interview. Since I put up the link you can read it for yourself if you don't believe me. In fact this was already shown back in 2003 for anyone interested in taking a look: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/207368/cheneys-supposed-lie-doc-rossetti (the author of the article, Doc Rossetti, is a nome de plume for UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh).
Chris Matthews repeatedly interrupted Morell and Matthews made the claim that Cheney said Hussein had nuclear weapons, using that out of context quote. Morell actually said the same thing Cheney said. If you watch it, Matthews starts off by asking Morell why Hillary Clinton and the other Democrats voted for the Iraq War, like he's a mind reader. How does he expect Morell to answer that question? Morell then went to explain the context and said that "we" told "them" that he HAS chemical weapons, he has the potential to make biological weapons, and is RECONSTITUTING a nuclear program. That is the SAME WORD CHENEY USED! That's when Matthews used the out of context quote, and based on the out of context quote Morell said what Cheney said was false.
The FACT is that Tim Russert even pointed out that Cheney misspoke:
"MR. RUSSERT: Reconstituted nuclear weapons. You misspoke.
VICE PRES. CHENEY: Yeah. I did misspeak. I said repeatedly during the show weapons capability. We never had any evidence that he had acquired a nuclear weapon."
The transcript that I just quoted is from September 14, 2003 and was -- and is -- available online for free http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3080244/ns/meet_the_press/t/transcript-sept/#.VV5D7UbNKjx. The original interview was on March 16, but the second interview Cheney did with Tim Russert was only six months later, and that's when Russert pointed out the error. The transcripts for these interviews have been online for twelve years, but Matthews cherry-picked the quote where Cheney misspoke to make his case. Do you, Binnie, not think that Matthews was aware of the second interview? This professional news show host with producers and researchers? I think it's clear that Matthews lied and Cheney didn't. Matthews intentionally tried to show Cheney putting out false information when it's clear he did not. Matthews is the deceiver. Morell only gave an opinion based on the clip Matthews showed him.
