Here's a little item deep inside Barton Gellman's story on Richard Clarke that encapsulates so much of what's wrong with the Bush administration:
On the same broadcast, deputy national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley said, “We cannot find evidence that this conversation between Mr. Clarke and the president ever occurred.” In interviews for this story, two people who were present confirmed Clarke's account. They said national security adviser Condoleezza Rice witnessed the exchange.
So either unless Clarke and two other anonymous witnesses are lying, the folks in charge of our intelligence and national security apparatus are either (A) completely incompetent, or (B) complete liars. Does it really matter which?
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Long time, no hear, pity your comment box is in 4pt type, thats really hard to read.
I think the wheels are finaly comming of the tomato. Instead of choosing one story and sticking with it they have to each invent a fable. So now we have the somewhat bizare spectacle of Cheney claiming that the director of counter-terrorism was not in the decision loop as they cranked up the response to the imminent threat. While the administration was allegedly put on battlestations to counter the imminent threat the President went on a month long holiday, spending well documented time cutting brush, playing golf and other tasks appropriate to a single minded focus on Al Qaeda.
Meanwhile we have the somewhat bizare fact that Condi and Cheney can take time off from their duties to brief the press but don’t seem to have time to talk to the 9/11 commission. Bush can find whole days to go off to attend fundraisers but only has an hour to spare when it comes to the most critical public enquiry.
Meanwhile the once loyal congressional troops are mad because they now know that they were lied to outright over the cost of Medicare.
The point about the ‘Dean Scream’ is just how little it takes for sentiments that are already present to suddenly be legitimated and in doing so strip away the false aura of inevitability candidates try to surround themselves with. I personaly think that Kerry made a smart move taking to the slopes after the Spain result, it was a no-win situation for him if he was forced to comment with the GOP attack dogs playing the faux patriotism / faux tough on terror card.
Bush can self-destruct in a few seconds. All it will take is a single statement that hits the wrong note and cannot be explained away.
If you know the HTML to make the type size in a comments box TEXTAREA bigger, I’ll happily use it.
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