The failure of the "blame the other guy" defense

I commented a couple of weeks back that the Republicans might have over-reached by pushing out a Senate report that seemed to blame all of the Iraq mess on the CIA and leave Bush completely in the clear. No one, except the most extreme Bush partisan, would buy the idea that Bush was completely blameless in this fuck-up. Yet by trying to push that idea, the Republicans just come off looking even worse.

Now we are seeing the same thing happen in England. Despite the release of Lord Butler's report, which said that Prime Minister Blair and his cabinet acted in good faith, ... 

Voters 'believe PM lied over Iraq'

A clear majority of voters believes Tony Blair lied over Iraq despite the Butler Report conclusions, according to a new poll.

And opposition to the war has climbed to its highest level yet, the ICM survey for The Guardian showed. Lord Butler last week said although intelligence was flawed the Prime Minister and his colleagues acted in good faith.

(Unfortunately the linked story doesn't give the actual numbers in the poll. If I find out what they are I'll try and update.)

The attempts by Bush and Blair to cover their assess just comes off looking obvious when those attempts leave them free and clear of blame.