Crispy Rice Treats - Part I
From Vice Chairman Hamilton's Opening Statements:The purpose of our hearing this morning is very straightforward. We want to get information, and we wanted to get it out into the public record. If we are going to fulfill our mandate, a comprehensive and sweeping mandate, then we will have to provide a full and complete accounting of the events of 9-11. And that means that we are going to ask some searching and difficult questions. Our purpose is not to embarrass, it is not to put any witness on the spot. Our purpose is to understand and to inform.If only that were true, Mr. Chairman... This is a partisan attempt to smear the President of the United States and his senior staff. Remember that Intelligence Committee memo that the Democrats wrote that was leaked to Sean Hannity; they will exploit any and all opportunities to seek political gain and leverage. We are seeing that memo's strategy played out here.
Questions do not represent opinions. Our views will follow later after reflection on answers.This guy should be thanking God HE wasn't under oath, because hese are some whoppers... A number of these questions did represent opinions; most of which were politically motivated and counterproductive to the Commission's stated goals. And that line about being fair is just too rich...
We want to be thorough this morning, and as you will see in a few minutes, the commissioners will show that they have mastered their briefs. But we also want to be fair.
Most of us on this commission have been in the policymaking world at some time in our careers. Policymakers face terrible dilemmas: information is incomplete; the inbox is huge; resources are limited; there are only so many hours in the day. The choices are tough, and none is tougher than deciding what is a priority and what is not. We will want to explore with Dr. Rice, as we have with other witnesses, the choices that were madeThis is the statement that has the most truth in it from VC Hamilton. This is why, I believe, it is important to remember who was responsible for 9/11: al Qaeda. Every Commission session should start with that caveat, but it doesn't. Why? Because the Commission has been hijacked by political hacks...
Matt's Chat
My comments are above. I'm going to break up the testimony and highlight what I think are the important points and illustrate a few things that I think people should take from Dr. Rice's testimony. Mark's commentary (if any) will be provided at the bottom of the exerpt, as usual.Mark's Remarks
First things first...Matt is freakin' killing me with the title of this whole series...Second, good lord, I am gonna be catching up all day long....doesn't he know I have services to attend on Good Friday, sheesh!!!!!! :)
1. Mr. Hamilton must honestly fall asleep during Bin Vineste's and Kerrey's questioning, if he honestly thinks that the questioning and attitudes are non-partisan. Sean Hannity's leaked memo that Matt highlighted shows that they are working their strategy....Now, America, you have been warned of how the Libs are spinning for power...it is up to you not to buy into it....See these hacks for what they are....
2. Bin Vineste has never been a policy maker, and he has led the hijacking of this commission to be nothing more than a hate spewing sideshow to smear the Bush Administration. We have highlighted again and again the failed policies of EIGHT YEARS of Bill Clinton. Mr. Bush, again, HAD EIGHT MONTHS. You COULD NOT change the govt. to meet the threat in eight months, period.
3. Al Queda is responsible for 9/11, not Bush, not even Clinton. Nuff said.
