Over the past 72-hours, the Obama administration has revealed their story line. The Islamofascist talking points are out. They’ve got their story down. And they’re sticking to it.

First, Barack Obama, per the White House web site:

Now let’s make two things clear: ISIL is not “Islamic.” No religion condones the killing of innocents. And the vast majority of ISIL’s victims have been Muslim. And ISIL is certainly not a state. It was formerly al Qaeda’s affiliate in Iraq, and has taken advantage of sectarian strife and Syria’s civil war to gain territory on both sides of the Iraq-Syrian border. It is recognized by no government, nor by the people it subjugates. ISIL is a terrorist organization, pure and simple. And it has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand in its way.

Cliff Notes version:  If my lips are moving, I am lying. Otherwise known as taqiyya.

Next up, John Kerry, per CNS News:

(CNSNews.com) – The ideology which Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL) is trying to spread through the Middle East is a “dangerous … offensive … insulting distortion of Islam,” Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday. (snip)

“ISIL attempts to tell people that what they’re doing is somehow based on their notion of Islam and their view of religion,” he said. “No religion, certainly not a peaceful, great religion like Islam, ever condones the kinds of activities that ISIL engages in.”

Kerry spoke alongside his Saudi counterpart, Saud Al-Faisal, who recalled that King Abdullah said last month “that it was a shame that these terrorists undertake these activities in the name of religion.”

“They kill innocent peoples and they cut their victims and they take pride in this in the name of religion,” Saud said. “They are killing souls that God has forbidden to kill, and they have disfigured the face of humanity.”

Cliff Notes version:  I don’t know what I’m talking about, but trust me anyway when I say that ISIS does not understand Islam and ISIS has nothing to do with Islam.

(As an added bonus, you have to appreciate the irony of Saudi outrage at dismembering and massacring people in light of the fact that people are still beheaded in Saudi Arabia.)

Followed by, Susan Rice, per Newsmax:

…Rice, appearing on CNN's “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” on Thursday, said targeted airstrikes do not constitute war.

The difference, she said, is that there will be no American ground troops, "which is what I think the American people think of when they think of a war."

"It sounds like a war to me," Blitzer said.

Rice: "I think frankly this is a counterterrorism operation that will take time. It will be sustained," Rice said, who repeatedly emphasized no American ground troops will be involved.

Cliff Notes version:  I’m an idiot. Best to ignore everything I say.
And once again, John Kerry, per National Review Online in response to a question posed by CNN global affairs correspondent who asked if this is a war:

I think that’s the wrong terminology. What we are doing is engaging in a very significant counterterrorism operation. And it’s going to go on for some period of time. If somebody wants to think about it as being at war with ISIL they can do so, but the fact is that it’s a major counter terrorism operation that will have many different moving parts

Cliff Notes version:  (Robot voice) We are not at war with ISIS. Please stop using that word. This is a counterterrorism operation. It will take time. It will be sustained. Now please leave us in peace with our talking points before we get confused.

Thomas Lifson adds:

All of this evasion is because President Obama doesn’t want to go to Congress for approval, as the Constitution demands, of his actions. He doesn’t want to invoke the War Powers Act, which gives him 60 days of fighting before he seeks Congressional authorization, because he is planning on years of engagement. There is a good chance that if asked, Congress would turn him down, anyway, with a coalition of leftist Democrats and mainly libertarian Republicans combining to frustrate passage.

But Congress doesn’t even want to be asked. War is a risky business, and if things turn out badly, many people in Congress don’t want to be on the record. Their primary job is to get re-elected, not to carry out their constitutionally mandated responsibilities, after all.