Scotty on Clarke
From the White House Briefing Room:Q Okay, Clarke is now saying that the -- your response this morning was an example of how the Bush administration just goes after -- just uses ad hominem attacks and tries to suppress the truth.
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, when someone uses such charged rhetoric that is just not matched by the facts, it's important that we set the record straight. And that's what we're doing. If you look back at his past comments and his past actions, they contradict his current rhetoric. I talked to you all a little bit about that earlier today. Go back and look at exactly what he has said in the past and compare that with what he is saying today. And ask yourself why, one-and-a-half years later, after he left the administration, he's, all of a sudden, coming forward with these grave concerns? If he had had such grave concerns, why didn't he come out with them sooner?
Matt's Chat
Scotty asks good questions here. I love how these hamsters just hate it when the facts don't match their rhetoric. They will say or do anything to get ahead. I suppose that's just politics and politicians, but I really don't see that. I mean, this has become politicized even though the issue is vital and this commission isn't going to get any answers or come up with any solutions. this is nothing more than a Bash Bush Festival and the thing of it is that the people who had responsibility for eight years and did almost nothing (they got the Millineum plot right) are the ones supplying all the CYA. Answers, people. We need answers. Not rhetoric. Not excuses.Terrorism will never be defeated with a legalistic/law enforcement mindset. Al Qaeda is not interested in the law. Arresting a couple of people (i.e. Yusef) doesn't get the job done (9/11 happened anyway). You have to take the fight to them while making the homeland as safe as possible without giving up that which we hold most sacred: our freedom and way of life. You don't bash the Patriot Act. You don't vote for it before you vote against funding our troops that are out there fighting the war. And you don't point fingers at each other when the excuses aren't getting you off the hook.
Q But, Scott, Dr. Rice said this morning the reason he was kept on was because he was so valuable in his counterterrorism expertise. Why is it that this administration and previous Republican administrations would keep him on if he didn't have any credibility, if he was just a partisan player?Well, if the shoe fits...
MR. McCLELLAN: I think Dr. Rice said earlier that, obviously, he had been around for quite some time. Like I said, he had been around for some eight years before the September 11th attacks. This administration had been in place for some 230 days. Again, these threats did not develop overnight. They had been building for quite some time. And I think that's important to keep in perspective when we're having this discussion. But certainly al Qaeda was a top priority. We made that determination during the transition and immediately began acting on that priority when we came into office. And it was important to continue some of those policies until we were able to develop a new, comprehensive strategy to eliminate al Qaeda -- not roll it back, like was the previous policy.
Q You're really suggesting he's looking for a scapegoat now.
Mark's Remarks
Clarke has a HUGE credibility problem. The man sang Bush's praises in books by Miniter, to FoxNews, and even in his own swansong resignation letter. Now he is blasting him. Could it be he is projecting his own guilt over being overly obsessed with cyberterrorism and missing the cues? I mean, the excerpts I have read have been blasted away, in that for much of the meetings, he was not there and is engaging in vile speculation and demagoguery, or he is simply making issues up. He is not being truthful, and isn't it amazing that his book came out just as the testimony was to be given, just as economic numbers are increasing, and just as Kerry is wilting? I mean, his best bud works as an adivsor to Kerry. It is not that hard to draw the picture of a disgruntled employee, and the shoe fits. The Partisan media can spin it how they want, but the American people are smarter than that.
