Fractionals

I figured Bush would just ignore the Amnesty report that condemns Guantanamo and all that, but instead he calls it "absurd". And furthermore, it must be fuelled by "people who hate America, people that have been trained in some instances to disassemble, that means not tell the truth" (I presume he means the inmates, not Amnesty International, although you never know). That's a nice excuse: "well, of course they're accusing us of restricting their rights, not giving them a fair trial, even torturing them - they're our enemies! What do you expect?"

But no, what really makes me angry is Cheney's comment:

"I think the fact of the matter is the United States has done more to advance the cause of freedom, has liberated more people from tyranny over the course of the 20th century and up to the present day than any other nation in the history of the world"

Even if that's true (and I'm not saying it's false, but really, with such vague benchmarks how can one tell?), what on earth does that have to do with this?

Let X stand for all the good freedom stuff the American government has done, past and present.
Let Y stand for the possibility that the American government have in fact set back the cause of human rights in recent years.

X does not prove anything about Y; it in a tenuous sense suggests that all else being equal Y probably isn't true, but with the existence of proof or at least claims that need to be investigated regarding Y, it's not a counter-argument.

Watch the American media, and section of its public, ignore this fact entirely.