Hey Steve Holland - Claim Your $250 Reward!

On May 28, Democrats.com offered a reward of up to $1,000 to any journalist or individual who asked George Bush this question:

In July 2002, did you and your administration "fix" the intelligence and facts about non-existent Iraqi WMD's and ties to terrorism - which were disputed by U.S. intelligence officials - to sell your decision to invade Iraq to Congress, the American people, and the world - as quoted in the Downing Street Minutes?

Today, Reuters reporter Steve Holland asked the following question at the Bush-Blair press conference:

On Iraq, the so-called Downing Street Memo from July, 2002, says "Intelligence and facts remain fixed around the policy of removing Saddam through military actions." Is this an accurate reflection of what happened?

The questions are basically the same: did the Bush administration "fix" the intelligence and facts to justify war?

Steve Holland is therefore eligible to claim a reward. How much, you ask?

That depends on how we interpret Bush's answer.

We offered $1,000 if Bush answered the question - "fixing the intelligence" - with a Yes or No.

Unfortunately for Holland, Bush didn't provide a Yes/No answer to that question.

In fact, Bush didn't answer that question at all. Instead, he completely changed the question and then answered his own question.

And somebody said, Well, you know, we had made up our mind to go to use military force to deal with Saddam. There's nothing farther from the truth.

So Bush didn't say whether or not he "fixed the intelligence." Therefore Mr. Reuters did not win the full $1,000.

Did he earn second prize?

If you get a substantive answer from Mr. Bush to this question that does not include a clear YES or NO, you will win a reward of $500

The answer hinges on whether Bush's answer constituted a "substantive answer from Mr. Bush to this question."

Bush's answer was substantive, at least in Bush's reality-challenged way:

My conversations with the prime minister was how could we do this peacefully, what could we do.

And this meeting, evidently it took place in London, happened before we even went to the United Nations - or I went to the United Nations.

And so it's - look, both of us didn't want to use our military. Nobody wants to commit military into combat. That's the last option.

The consequences of committing the military are very difficult. You know, one of the hardest things I do as the president is to try to comfort families who've lost a loved one in combat.

It's the last option that the president must have, and it's the last option I know my friend had as well.

And so we worked hard to see if we could figure how to do this peacefully, to put a united front up to Saddam Hussein, so the world speaks. And he ignored the world. Remember, 1441 passed the Security Council unanimously. He made the decision. And the world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power.

But it was not an answer to the question of "fixing intelligence."

So in the opinion of the judges (me!), Steve Holland is entitled to half of the second prize award: namely $250.

Steve Holland, we invite you to claim your $250 reward by contacting us here.

And for everyone else, the $1,000 reward is still available!

Updates:

Boston Globe's Farah Stockman writes:

Late yesterday evening, after watching the news conference on television, Fertik said that Steve Holland, the Reuters reporter who questioned the leaders about the memo, was ''eligible" for $250 of the reward, even though Bush did not answer ''Yes" or ''No."

But at the White House, Holland said he had never heard of the reward and had no intention of collecting it.

Hey Steve - surely your wife deserves a night on the town for putting up with your long hours chasing Bush around the world to try to get the truth!

Washington Post's Dana Milbank writes (or is it "blogs" - note the nasty reference to Democrats.com supporters as "wing nuts" - time for another forum on blogger ethics!):

Holland, a consummate professional, wasn't trying to satisfy the wing nuts -- "good grief," he said when told later about the prize money -- and won't be collecting. But his query ended a slightly strange episode in the American media in which the potentially explosive report out of London had become a seldom acknowledged elephant in the room.

So even though we are loathsome "wing nuts," we did serve the cause of Truth, Justice,  and the American Way by helping force the "elephant in the room" (a.k.a. the Downing Street Memo) to be acknowledged.

As George Bush Karl Rove once declared, "Mission Accomplished!"