The reality-based community

If it wasn't so worrying, it would be amusing to note how biased and out of touch with reality the "reality-based community" in fact is. One of their mantras is that President Bush invented the link between Al Qaeda and Iraq to cynically justify the war in Iraq.

Once again, this is total bollocks.

Melanie Phillips ably debunks this myth (via Instapundit). Ironically the most prescient analysis I have seen (via Tim Blair) on this subject comes from Alice Cooper, the founder of shock-rock who "was once dubbed the most evil rock singer in the world."

ANDREW DENTON: A lot of people in rock and roll, it's very fashionable to despise George W. Bush. That's not a view you subscribe to, is it?
ALICE COOPER: Well, I think if you're in a war, you don't want a poodle in there, you want a pit bull. I don't think that you want a guy in there going, "Gee, I don't know. Maybe. Could be." I think you want a guy in there who's either going to win it or lose it.
ANDREW DENTON: Are you referring to Iraq or the broader war against al-Qaeda?
ALICE COOPER: I just think that that war's going to go on for a long time, whoever is the President. If it would have been Kerry, he would have been just as knee deep in it. I don't think Bush got us into that war. I think that started 9/11 and I think somebody had to take it from there.
ANDREW DENTON: It doesn't worry you, the false connection that was made between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein, all that stuff that's been shown?
ALICE COOPER: No. It doesn't bother me because I honestly think it's all connected.
ANDREW DENTON: The one thing we do know about 9/11 is that nobody involved in it actually came from Iraq. That's probably the one thing we absolutely know.
ALICE COOPER: Well, it's probably true, but I can't see them going, "Oh, gosh." The guys in Iraq going, "Gee, how horrible for America." I think there's a general feeling in that world that if America falls they'll be in a much better state, so we have to view those people in the same boat. I don't see much difference between the al-Qaeda and Iraq - not the people, I'm talking about the governments. The people, the poor people, are the victims.
ANDREW DENTON: Saddam and Osama bin Laden actually hated each other.
ALICE COOPER: Hated each other a lot, I'll bet. They traded Rolls Royces. You don't think there was a cigar going around when that happened at 9/11. I'll bet you there was.

Who would have thought that Alice Cooper provides better analysis of current events than the New York Times?