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Friday, April 09, 2004 |
A crush note to the blogosphere
Newest mode of journalism has tenacity and transparency that major media lacks
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I've got a confession to make. I've got a big-time crush. I'm talking weak-in-the-knees infatuation. But it's not Brad or Orlando or Colin or any of the cinematic hunks du jour who have set my heart aflutter. No, it's Atrios and Kos and Josh Micah Marshall and Kausfiles and Kevin Drum and Wonkette. Bloggers all. Yes, when it comes to the blogosphere, I'm a regular cyberslut. And I don't care who knows it. Bring on the fines, Michael Powell!
Arianna Huffington www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=16727 |
5:50:01 PM
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(April 09, 2004 -- 01:06 AM EDT // link // print)
From a Friday Washington Post story on the degenerating situation in Iraq ...
This is Bush's 33rd visit to his ranch since becoming president. He has spent all or part of 233 days on his Texas ranch since taking office, according to a tally by CBS News. Adding his 78 visits to Camp David and his five visits to Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush has spent all or part of 500 days in office at one of his three retreats, or more than 40 percent of his presidency.
and this ...
Bush spent the morning watching national security adviser Condoleezza Rice's televised testimony to the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, then toured his ranch with Wayne LaPierre Jr., chief executive of the National Rifle Association, and other leaders of hunting groups and gave an interview to Ladies' Home Journal. He is not scheduled to appear in public until Sunday, when he will visit nearby Fort Hood, the home base for seven soldiers recently killed in Baghdad.
Vacation gibes are usually unfair. But with the situation in Iraq so critical, shouldn't the president be at the White House? It's a full-time job, comes with a decent salary.
5:37:18 PM
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Thanks to BushWhacked we have:
Complete Coverage of the Rice Testimony By The Center for American Progress
Center for American Progress, 8 April 2004
EXCERPT:
Statement On Rice Testimony, by John Podesta
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the 9/11 Commission today established new and important facts.
Bush Administration Warned 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States,' April 8, 2004
Two and a half years after 9/11, the American public learned today that President Bush received explicit warnings that Osama bin Laden was planning to attack the United States – including activities "consistent with preparations for hijacking."
Claim vs. Fact: Rice's Q&A Testimony Before the 9/11 Commission, April 8, 2004
CLAIM: "I do not remember any reports to us, a kind of strategic warning, that planes might be used as weapons." FACT: Condoleezza Rice was the top National Security official with President Bush at the July 2001 G-8 summit in Genoa. There, "U.S. officials were warned that Islamic terrorists might attempt to crash an airliner" into the summit, prompting officials to "close the airspace over Genoa and station antiaircraft guns at the city's airport."
Claim vs. Fact: Condoleezza Rice's Opening Statement, April 8, 2004
CLAIM: "We decided immediately to continue pursuing the Clinton Administration's covert action authorities and other efforts to fight the network." FACT: Newsweek reported that "In the months before 9/11, the U.S. Justice Department curtailed a highly classified program called 'Catcher's Mitt' to monitor al-Qaida suspects in the United States."
Responses of Condoleezza Rice in the Weeks Before Her Testimony, April 8, 2004
The president asked if Iraq was complicit. Anybody should have asked whether Iraq was complicit given our history with Iraq.
SEE ALSO:
Rice on the Stand
David Corn
The Nation, 8 April 2004
EXCERPT: Condoleezza Rice is fortunate that she only has to speak under oath when she appears before the 9/11 commission. Her much-anticipated testimony to the panel investigating the 9/11 attacks overall was predictable. She vigorously defended herself, her administration and her boss from the charge that they had not assigned the al Qaeda threat sufficient importance prior to September 11. She could not bring herself to utter what Commissioner Bob Kerrey, a former Democratic senator, called "the m-word"--that is, "mistake." Instead, she only would note that "America's response [to the growing al Qaeda threat] across several administrations of both parties was insufficient," and she blamed that on the general tendency of democratic societies to be slow in reacting to "gathering threats." (To prove her point, she cited the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania.) She repeatedly referred to "structural problems" that had long existed in the national security community as the primary reason for the failures--another word she did not mention once in her opening statement--that occurred on and before 9/11. As could be expected, the Republican-appointed commissioners tossed her easy questions, and the Democrats tried to zing her but were hampered by tight time restrictions. Still, the hearing produced information indicating that she and the Bush administration have not been straight with the public as they have attempted to convince America they were fully vigilant in the fight against al Qaeda prior to September 11.
SEE ALSO: Bush Told of Hijack Warning Weeks Before 9/11 (The Guardian)
LexiCondi: Decoding Rice's Self-Serving Testimony
By William Saletan
Slate, 8 April 2004
EXCERPT: Four years ago, when the Justice Department deposed Al Gore in the Clinton fund-raising scandal, I poked fun at Gore's self-serving, hypocritical redefinitions of everyday words. Today, National Security Adviser Condi Rice resorted to similar tactics in her testimony before the 9/11 commission. Here's a glossary of her terms.
12:00:58 AM
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