Last week, President Bush told a group of reporters that Donald Rumsfeld would stay on until the end of Bush’s term. Today, during Bush’s press conference, one of those reporters asked the president to square his earlier comments with his Wednesday announcement of Rumsfeld’s resignation.

Bush’s reply:

I did not want to make a major decision in the final days of the campaign. The only way to answer that question, and get it on to another question, was to give you that answer.”

  • In other words, he lied to the press for political purposes.

    • Watch it:

  • UPDATE: ThinkProgress has a transcript
  • UPDATE #2:: MediaMatters notes that Bush similarly lied about the resignation of Treasury Secretary John Snow.
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