Richard Clarke KOs the Bushies

[Robbien]

By Fred Kaplan
Updated Wednesday, March 24, 2004, at 3:49 PM PT

Richard Clarke made his much-anticipated appearance before the 9/11 commission this afternoon and, right out of the box, delivered a stunning blow to the Bush administration—the political equivalent of a first-round knockout.

The blow was so stunning, it took a while to realize that it was a blow. Clarke thanked the members for holding the hearings, saying they finally provided him "a forum where I can apologize" to the victims of 9/11 and their loved ones. He continued, addressing those relatives, many of whom were sitting in the hearing room:

Your government failed you … and I failed you. We tried hard, but that doesn'tmatter because we failed. And for that failure, I would ask … for your understanding and for your forgiveness.

End of statement. Applause. KO.

Among the many feckless or snarky statements that Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and White House spokesman Scott McClellan have issued about Clarke the past few days, the observation they've recited with particular gusto is that this disgruntled ex-official was in charge of counterterrorism policy during the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, the attacks on the U.S.S. Cole, and the bombing of our East African embassies. Their implication was: How can this guy, who allowed so much bloodshed on his watch, be blaming us?

And so now here's Clarke, in an official, nationally broadcast forum, announcing: I failed, I'm sorry, please forgive me. Which, as one member of the panel noted, is more than any official in the Bush administration has said to any victims of the far more devastating 9/11 attacks.

Much more
http://slate.msn.com/id/2097750/

[MSgt213]

1. I like the way he described it because for me watching it. It all happen

just like that.

[Robbien]

6. That is exactly why I chose this article rather than all the others

Slate did a good job. We needed to hear an I'm sorry, and this was said and exerpted exactly right.

Thank you Mr Clarke. I may not agree with your politics, but you are an honorable man.

[maggrwaggr]

2. and to think, in contrast, Bush acts PROUD of 9/11

like it's his greatest shining moment of all time.

Clarke is a fucking hero. I'm proud to call the man an American.

Imagine actually taking responsibility.

[nini]

3. EXACTLY

he's played the 9/11 card like it's a good thing. He should be so f'ing ashamed this happened on his watch.

the bastard

[yardwork]

5. W doesn't know what shame is. He has no conscience.

[saigon68]

7. Impossible for an AWOL clueless sock-puppet to have a conscience

You are asking to much of this LapDog.

[aquart]

12. Bowled me over. I think I've listened to it three times.

If Republicans had the sense God gave a duck, they'd run THIS man for President.

I wouldn't vote for him, of course, because he still has too military a view of things, but it might be a very close run thing.

[Beetwasher]

4. Quite the Definitive Accounting of the Affair I Think

Clarke played them masterfully. It was like a concerto.

[Wapsie B]

8. I agree,

but does this translate into the scandal that finally pushes chimpy over the edge? Is America watching this?

[saigon68]

10. A lot of people are

This guy really was believable. It was fascinating to watch him. Its easy to see why some of these people have high level jobs.. they are not all dunces and in his case, not all faceless string puppets of the PNAC crowd.

[meti57b]

9. Thanks!, I hadn't thought about it in just that way, You're right!

[wryter2000]

11. Comment from an old-timer

I was watching the Watergate hearings when Alexander Butterfield told them everything that happened in the Oval Office was taped. Today had the same kind of feel.

[yardwork]

21. Hey fellow old-timer!

Does this remind you of Watergate?

I keep telling my kids to pay attention to this - they will want to remember it. Unfortunately, I feel like the folks here in DU are the only ones who are paying attention. I can't get my family excited (they all hate Bush anyway).

Is it like Watergate - or is it more like the drip-drip-drip that started before Nixon was reelected? That's what worries me.

[Malva Zebrina]

13. Indeed, in fact, Bush has actually started a fight with those families

and has trotted out Laura to fight with those familes who dared ask questions of him. Really, there she was, in lockstep, challenging the families of the victims of 9-11.

Imagine that--a president, claiming to be a leader. fights with the families of the dead who died in the WTC--he is a president and sullies himself by fighting with thiese families and attempting to smear them. What a filthy prick. This is not the action of a leader or a president. This is the action of a little boy--a schoolyard bully, an adolescent ego driven, narcissist.

Imagine a president fighting with the families of those killed in 9-11

He is so rotten and filthy that his next photo ops will show his blackened soul in plain view. Watch.

[Wapsie B]

15. If someone has Pickles on video

going after the 9/11 families, it needs to be replayed over and over until chimpy is out of the WH. What a perfect marketing piece for the Democrats!

[yardwork]

23. Imagine what the press would have done to Clinton

if he had argued with the families of a disaster?

Left-wing media my ass.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Beetwasher]

16. What A Load Of Crap

He was working for Bush at the time, and at his bosses behest, he spun the situation to Fox and presented the best face to counter what Time printed, and he did it OFF THE RECORD (for good reason, because he knew how full of shit it was). Additionally, nothing he said on those tapes contradict anything he's saying now. Read and weep. I defy you to quote two conflicting statements from the Fox tapes and anything he's said recently.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Robbien]

17. The GOP are working hard to spread this smear.

Imagine that, when you work for Bush you have to lie to keep your job. I see from the freeper site that they are sending out their bushbots to post this smear all over the net.

And to think it came from the "almost fair and balanced Faux".

You did the freepers proud by your post.

[htuttle]

19. You should have read the article

They seem to have seen the same thing I saw today at the hearings:

Clarke calmly noted that, in August 2002, he was special assistant to President Bush. White House officials asked him to give a "background briefing" to the press, to minimize the political damage of a Time cover story on Bush's failure to take certain measures before 9/11. "I was asked to highlight the positive aspects of what the administration had done and to play down the negative aspects," Clarke said, adding, "When one is a special assistant to the president, one is asked to do that sort of thing. I've done it for several presidents."

Nervous laughter came from the crowd—or was it from the panel? The implication was clear: This is what I used to do and—though he didn't mention them explicitly—this is what Condi Rice and Stephen Hadley are doing now when they're defending the president.

I can't put it any better.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JeremyTrevor]

24. I saw that too..

but it was from august 2002. I think Clarke did more to embarrass himself more than he KO the bushies.

I saw him respond to this 2002 briefing by claiming he was making Bush look good.

If this was true then why did he not write about that in his book? Why didn't he say anything about it on 60 Minutes last weekend?

I have doubts about Clarke. He's not one I would hang my hat onto.

[0007]

18. Excellent aricle - exactly the way I saw it today

I just the book and will start reading it tonight.

[Moderator]

25. As Much As It Pains Me

I'm locking this thread. Super Duper

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x441952