Similar considerations fatally undermine the (unrelated) charge that Bush deliberately violated statutory and constitutional restrictions by ordering the surveillance of phone calls between the United States and abroad, where one of the parties is reasonably believed to be an Al Qaeda operative. Let's assume that Bush believed such surveillance would be illegal, but was determined to order it anyway. Would he then (as he did) tell the leaders of both parties in both branches of Congress, and the ranking members of both parties in both intelligence committees, what he was doing?
The loose charges of "lying" that are being hurled against Bush these days are symptomatic, not of any genuine deliberate dishonesty on Bush's part, or even of a sincere belief to that effect on the part of his critics. They are simply evidence of the sort of brickbats that are becoming conventional as American politics spirals downward into the gutter. That spiral, in turn, is a product of the sheer desperation the Democrats have felt ever since they lost (unfairly, as they saw it) the presidential election of 2000, and its ratification in 2004.
Perhaps, if the Congressional elections this November result in the Democrats winning one or both Houses of Congress, their fever will abate, and our political rhetoric will regain a little of the balance it has lost.