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| Cheney batters, deep fries carpers |
| 2002-05-17 |
| Democratic lawmakers are insisting the White House turn over top-secret documents prepared for President Bush that indicated Osama bin Laden wanted to hijack U.S. planes. They also want to see another pre-Sept. 11 document - an FBI memo that warned headquarters that many Middle Eastern men were training at American flight schools. "Just give us something that'll make Bush look even a little bit bad. Making Cynthia McKinney look like she's not totally stoopid would help, too." Bush officials acknowledged Thursday that the president was briefed about a possible hijacking plot in early August while he vacationed at his Texas ranch. But the officials were deeply divided over whether to release the documents. The news of Bush's August briefing set off a furor and precipitated a public relations blitz by the White House, which sent forth an extraordinary number of senior advisers to defend the president as Democrats, and a few Republicans, sought answers. "Viewing with alarm" is as old a political gimmick as kissing babies. If you believe they're after answers, I've got some prime building lots in Florida you might be interested in... "Why did it take eight months for us to receive this information? And what specific actions were taken by the White House in response?" Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said. "I'm not going to jump to any conclusions, but it's hard to understand why the information was not released." "I'm not going to jump to any conclusions because none are needed. We already know what's wrong. So vote for me, and I'll fix it. Whatever it may be." House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., posed a variation on the famous Watergate-era question: What did the president know and when did he know it? That's because the reptilian Mr Gephardt is utterly lacking in imagination and couldn't think of anything else to say that wasn't said thirty years ago. At least Daschle managed a variation on the theme without having to parrot the words. Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said, "There was a lot of information. I believe and others believe, if it had been acted on properly we may have had a different situation on Sept. 11." Hokay, smart boy. There's lots of information right now, at this moment. Call the next one. Go ahead. Take your time. You have until it happens, you know. But if you miss it, you have to go before a Congressional committee so they can throw darts at you... But the administration argued there was no information about a specific threat. Vice President Dick Cheney warned Democrats to tread lightly. 'Cuz they could end up with their testicles breaded and deep fried to a golden brown. "They need to be very cautious not to seek political advantage by making incendiary suggestions that were made by some today that the White House had advance information that would have prevented the tragic attacks of 9-11," Cheney said. "Such commentary is thoroughly irresponsible and totally unworthy of national leaders in a time of war." And it won't get any more polite from that point. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #3 Either I've been thinking real loud, Steve's been reading my mind, or the process isn't really, really subtle and lots of other people think exactly like we do. |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-05-18 08:18:43 |
| #2 It's predictable. The Dems have absolutely nothing to run on this fall -- economy is getting better, terrorists in Afghan-land are being whupped, most Americans like the Israelis and don't like Yasser, the education bill passed, the domestic agenda is otherwise a yawner -- so they need something. With approval ratings near 80%, the President is near untouchable. So what to do? Wait for some nugget of info out there that suggests that the President might, maybe, coulda, shoulda known something, and pounce on him. That's the only way to bring his approval rating down, and that's the only way the Dems can avoid looking stoopid in November. As any semi-intelligent person knows, it's always possible to find nuggets after the fact. The Dems just found one, and they have to run with it. I'm guessing that this blows over after a few days, but -- this is important -- it allows the next attack on the President to work just a little better, sink in just a little deeper, and thus start moving the approval rating into the 60's. Then the high 50's. Then the mid-50's. Etc. Regards, |
| Posted by: Steve White 2002-05-17 23:17:45 |
| #1 Fred: Chaney was nice this time. However I sure don't want to hear what Dick said in private. (Yow!) Venture to bet Shelby knew more than he's saying? Something about the little shit always made me want to watch my back. May be it was that hissing sound he makes? ;-) |
| Posted by: Mary Wehmeier 2002-05-17 16:55:51 |