Bush Risks Looking Weak in 9/11 Testimony

[kskiska]

TOM RAUM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - President Bush's closed-door testimony to the Sept. 11 commission alongside Vice President Dick Cheney carries political risks for the White House. Leaning too much on Cheney could make Bush look weak, and inconsistencies with other officials could raise new questions.

Trying to head off criticism of Thursday's unusual side-by-side appearance, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday that he expects Bush rather than Cheney to handle most of the questions.

The two will meet in a private session with all 10 commission members at the White House Thursday morning, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Members will be allowed to take notes but there will not be a stenographer present. That contrasts with commission interviews with former President Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore, which a commission member said were recorded.

(snip)

"The degree to which commission members run around characterizing the president's and the vice president's testimony will be a function of how partisan, in particular those Democrats on the commission, want to be," Bond said.

But Lanny Davis, who was special counsel to former President Clinton, said it will be hard for Bush and Cheney to demonstrate full cooperation given their past "fighting and resisting every step of the way" right up to "insisting on appearing together."

more…
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/8534237.htm

[ConcernedCanuk]

1. Hmm - I think Junior is gettting well "tutored"

.
.
.
.
.

[Skittles]

21. LOL

I'm sure Junior has been "tutored" many times concerning how to correctly pronounce the word NUCLEAR.

[symbolman]

2. Given that this is in some kind

of VAULT, with NO Stenographer, tapes or notes, or video..

how in the HELL will anyone KNOW anything other than the BULLSHIT we are TOLD..

this is an absolute OUTRAGE!!

FUCKING COWARD!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

9. Yup.

The fact that they're co-testifying is meaningless. The fact that they're not under oath, nor recorded, means everything.

[Beetwasher]

18. Yeah, He Said She Said

The commissioners will all be accused of lying by the admin. if they say anything and there will be no record to verify anything...This is the most transparent fucking piece of bullshit ever. It's a sick joke.

[moondust]

3. Will he wear the earpiece?

Or let The Ogre do all the talking?

[xray s]

4. Whad'ya mean "Looking weak"?

He IS weak!

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Actually I would prefer if most of the questions were directed

at Cheney. He's the one who was really in charge that day. And he is the one who screwed up big time because he paniced and the 2nd WTC tower and the Pentagon were hit.

All I can say, is the commission better find out two things:

1. Why was Lynn Cheney even allowed in the WH Command and Control Center? And even worse, why was she allowed to interfere while a national emergency was in progress?

2. See my sig line.

[Miss Authoritiva]

6. Bush and Cheney holding hands: To quote Beaver Cleaver,

it just looks goofy. It's a bizarre variant on the old-school etiquette rule that proper ladies only go to the ladies' restroom in pairs.

[argyl]

7. Looking weak?Don't forget cowardly,childish, and stupid.

xx

[gate of the sun]

8. What are they so afraid of?

No official documents will be made public on this one ever.

[DS1]

10. Cheney's got the Cliff Clavin button like in Cheers

:evilgrin:

[enki23]

11. it doesn't really matter how they look. we don't get to see them.

.

[Dudley_DUright]

13. Precisely

Rove knows that if it is not on the boob tube, it is like it never happened. No video, no harm.

[bluedog]

15. we'll never know

so whats the sense of the media even talking about it.the "visit" will not be shown.no record no nothing.....bush and cheney will say they spoke to the commission.which they didn't want to do....but for what? The truth will never be known....its a sham.as with everything else this administration does.

[PurityOfEssence]

12. The little horse-fearin' Connecticut cheerleader is skeered a' somethin'?

Tell me it ain't true.

[The_Casual_Observer]

14. Weak, stupid, uninformed, rambling

Nothing new, watch any of the chimps speeches ( f you can stomach it).

[aquart]

16. Bond is being an idiot.

With no actual record, there is no real way for Republicans to refute ANYTHING the Dems choose to say. They can yell "Partisan!" till they're blue, but Bush will still be a coward who was too scared of being impeached and going to jail to go on the record. And too dumb to be allowed to stand on his own two feet and testify.

Only desperate, guilty fools would pull this shit.

So. Any Dems know Speedwriting?

[roguevalley]

17. CBS really skewered them. Gore and Clinton were taped. They

won't allow it. Bimbos. I wonder if they will skip
hand in hand to the meeting?

[TOhioLiberal]

19. I had to laugh...

according to Dan Rather, 'President' Bush* will take the lead in the questioning. I'm thinking 'yeah right, can't talk his way out of a news conference!'

If I was on the comittee, I would sneak a tape recorder in the hearing!

[Catherine Vincent]

20. What risk?

He's already a weakling in the eyes of the majority of Americans.

[ConcernedCanuk]

22. Maybe if we're lucky, someone in the FBI, CIA , or anyone,

.
.
.

will bug the place or use some high-tech eves-dropping equipment.

A live feed to the media would be nice too!

Without a video or audio record, we can't believe anything we hear after that meeting.

When the man/men that run the most powerful military in the world can't be held accountable, then it is a dictatorship, not democracy at all.

In a real democracy the people tell the leaders what to do, not the other way around.

(sigh)

[bain_sidhe]

23. Telegraphing the "innoculation" stratergery...

The degree to which commission members run around characterizing the president's and the vice president's testimony will be a function of how partisan, in particular those Democrats on the commission, want to be," Bond said.

So, the pubbies will come out and say bush did great, and if the Dems say different, the "defense" will be that they're just being "partisans."

It's called "innoculation" and as much as I hate the pukes, I have to say they're really, really good at it.

[Ouabache]

24. His testimony is not being recorded or transcribed so how would we know

? And it's in closed session. Cheney will do all the talking and snarling. And it will probably be forbidden for any commission member to talk about it at all. So who could look weak, or strong?

It's like he is not testifying basically, isn't it?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

25. But if nobody sees him how will he appear weak?

It's all up to the media spin to do this. (ha)

[Snazzy]

26. NTY: Bush-Cheney 9/11 Interview Won't Be Formally Recorded

Bush-Cheney 9/11 Interview Won't Be Formally Recorded
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and PHILIP SHENON

WASHINGTON, April 27 — The White House said on Tuesday that there would be no recording or formal transcription of the historic joint interview of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney by the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The interview, to begin at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday at the White House, will be recorded by two note takers, one from the White House. Under a pact with the White House that allowed all its 10 members in the interview, the commission is permitted to take a note taker, but not a recording device. The panel said it did not press for a formal transcription of the session, letting the White House decide.

...

Mr. Bush will not be under oath, and the White House has been adamant that what he says should not be considered official testimony.

...

Legal scholars said the lack of an official transcript would give the White House some deniability and make it more difficult to use the president's words as evidence in a future suit against the government.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/28/politics/28BUSH.html

[MoonRiver]

27. Oh, to be a fly on the wall!

I can just see all the anxious, furtive glances junior will be making in Cheney's direction as he desperately tries to remember his lines. He's not going to have a teleprompter, compliant press corps, or time frame that he controls. We'll probably never know, but I think the commission is really going to grill him. I hope the reporters get some close-ups of his face as he leaves the 9/11 interrogation room. I suspect it will be ashen.

[gate of the sun]

28. weak .....he looks like an invalid. n/t

[dusty64]

29. How can he look weak

when they are hiding behind closed doors, not under oath, with daddy by his side, and NO transcripts. This is a fuckin joke and I'm sure Pravda will be trumpeting how wonderful he was even though they won't have the slightest idea what happened in secrecy behind the locked doors.