Richard Clarke Responding on ABC to Rice's Testimony

Here is the transcript from the Conversation with Peter Jennings. Nothing too buzzworthy.

Some nuggets from Clarke:
"[Rice] said that the president received 40 warnings face to face from the director of central intelligence that a major al Qaeda attack was going to take place and she admitted that the president did not have a meeting on the subject, did not convene the Cabinet."

"You know, there may be structural problems within those agencies [FBI & CIA], but the way you overcome them in a crisis mode is by having the leaders of the agencies get together in the White House as a team in crisis mode. And Dr. Rice admits she didn't do it."

Bush's Counterterrorism staff exodus

Interesting article at Forbes on how "the Bush administration has faced a steady exodus of counterterrorism officials, many disappointed by a preoccupation with Iraq they said undermined the U.S. fight against terrorism."

Roger Cressey, who served under Richard Clarke in the White House counterterrorism office, said: "Dick accurately reflects the frustration of many in the counterterrorism community in getting the new administration to take the al Qaeda issue seriously."

What was Historical about the Info?

August 6th PDB is titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States".

"...PDB memo of August 6th that the FBI was saying that it had information suggesting that preparations _ not historically, but ongoing, along with these numerous full field investigations against al-Qaida cells, that preparations were being made consistent with hijackings within the United States".

What is historical about that? Seems pretty fresh.

Rice's complete transcript.

What did Rumsfeld mean?

After watching Condi Rice this morning, I have to question how Defense Secretary Rumsfeld described on many TV shows that Richard Clarke was "out of the loop".

Why was Clarke the first person Condi asked for on hearing the news on 9/11?

The Media Lets Us Down Again, Shame on NBC

Bush advisor Karen Hughes on "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert.

[Taken from Transcript]
MR. RUSSERT: But now in hindsight the president believes the commission's a good idea.

MS. HUGHES: Well, I think, Tim, I don't know if the president ever opposed the creation of the commission. What he did was try to balance and look at all those different things.

Does Karen Hughes really believe this? That is a flat out lie! How did Tim Russert let this one get by without challenging her?

And in center field.....

Is Boston Red Sox center fielder Johnny Damon taking this "Passion of the Christ" buzz a little too far?

If the Red Sox can't win with Jesus in center, the curse may be worse than they think

CNN comes up lame

After David Letterman aired a videotape of Tyler Crotty, 13 and the son of a Bush $100,000 plus "Pioneer" fundraiser, fighting to stay awake as George droned on and on, CNN host Daryn Kagan dismissed the videotape with the following on-air comment: "We're being told by the White House that the kid, as funny as he was, was edited into that video, which would explain why the people around him weren't really reacting." CNN anchor Kyra Phillips later reran the tape but cautioned viewers: "We're told that the kid was there at that event, but not necessarily standing behind the president."

Accused of misleading his viewers, Letterman called the White House a bunch of liars.

And what do you know? CNN did a sudden turnabout, claiming that the Bush propaganda machine never really called them at all. They vaguely attributed the unfounded allegation to news staff error.

"This whole thing just smells. Doesn't it smell a little bit?" Letterman remarked on his show after the CNN retreat.

Isn't that messed up?

Do you think CNN came up with that story idea on their own. A staff error? Or did the White House really try to discredit Letterman by planting the story? CNN looks like they can't keep their lies straight. CNN apologized on-air to Letterman.

The media are so Durst!

The time has come...

A blog for the democrats and republicans who are tired of the current situation.