Think Progress: Wallace Lied When He Told Clinton "We Asked..."

[BurtWorm]

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/23/wallace-rice-pdb/

FLASHBACK: Days After 9/11 Commission Testimony, Wallace Doesn’t Ask Rice About Infamous PDB

Rice on FoxOne of the most poignant moments of President Clinton’s interview with Fox News was when he called out Chris Wallace for giving the right a free pass on terrorism. An excerpt:

WALLACE: I asked a question. You don’t think that’s a legitimate question?

CLINTON: It was a perfectly legitimate question but I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked this question of. I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked: Why didn’t you do anything about the Cole? I want to know how many you asked: Why did you fire Dick Clarke? I want to know…

WALLACE: We asked…Do you ever watch Fox News Sunday sir?

CLINTON: I don’t believe you ask them that.

WALLACE: We ask plenty of questions of…

CLINTON: You didn’t ask that did you? Tell the truth.

WALLACE: About the USS Cole?

CLINTON: Tell the truth.

WALLACE: I…with Iraq and Afghanistan there’s plenty of stuff to ask.

Chris Wallace interviewed then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice on April 18, 2004, just days after she testified before the 9/11 Commission. Wallace didn’t ask her about the USS Cole or the decision to demote Richard Clarke. He also didn’t ask Rice about the notorious August 6 Presidential Daily Brief entitled, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike U.S.”

Instead Wallace perpetuated a smear against 9/11 Commissioner and former Clinton Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick, falsely claiming she was responsible for creating a “wall” between the F.B.I. and the CIA:

WALLACE: When commission member Jaime Gorelick was questioning you about that, did you know that when she was the deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, that she had issued an order that, in fact, helped build the so-called wall even higher?

RICE: I did not know that, Chris. I did know, of course, that she’d been deputy attorney general. I did know that there were responsibilities there for issues concerning counterterrorism, but no, I did not know.

This smear was rebutted by 9/11 Commission member Slade Gorton (R) who called the charge “ridiculous.” Gordon wrote the Washington Times, “She had nothing to do with any ‘wall’ between law enforcement and our intelligence agencies.”

Wallace has been a source of right-wing misinformation about 9/11 for years. Bill Clinton finally called him on it.

[liberal N proud]

1. Of course they claim to ask the tough questions

But asking bu$h a tough question is not the same as asking a normal person a tough question.

For bu$h, a tough question would be what did you have for breakfast.

[BurtWorm]

2. Clinton asked Wallace some of the toughest questions I've seen

outside of the Daily Show and Colbert Report.

[rodeodance]

3. what a hoot. paybacks are delicious.

[mandyky]

4. WJC (Big Dawg) is still my hero!

Way to go BC, give fox hell!

[formercia]

5. There has always been a bone to pick

between the CIA and the FBI. Having spent 9 months detailed to work with the FBI as go-between for technical support, I can assure you that information does flow between agencies with proper controls in place. It's just another reich-wing talking point that needs to be de-bunked.

There have always been barriers for the transmission of information, be it inter or intra agency. It's call compartmentalization. If you're not on the list, you don't know about it, no matter who you work for.

[specimenfred1984]

6. Legally, Wallace should be tortured now

Wallace falsely accused a president of treason, of not defending the United States.

What does Wallace know? What information does he have regarding presidential use of intelligence? Does Wallace know anything top secret?

Using current repig law, there's only 1 way to find out how much Wallace knows and that one way is to torture him.

[tblue]

7. Don't torture Wallace, WATERBOARD him! (not torture according to BushCo)

[C_U_L8R]

9. Waterboarding is too good for Wallace

Keeeeeelhaul the slimy SOB

[grannylib]

8. Wallace is a reich-wing whore, just like everyone else at

Fox Fraudcasting.
GO BIG DOG!
Wallace deserves to get smacked down. What a lying sack of shit. Wish I had seen it...will they replay it, you think????

[BurtWorm]

12. I think it hasn't even been shown.

I think it's for this Fox Sunday. They'll probably have the largest viewership they've ever had and will ever have again.

[Catherine Vincent]

10. Of course he did. He works for Fox News doesn't he.

Sheesh!

[me b zola]

11. I love it when fox-liars are exposed!

:)

[Rex]

13. Then the ABC movie was worth all the hype for Repukers.

It is amazing to see a know-nothing, lying to the face of a former president. Over and over. These people have no morals or shame. None.

[VolcanoJen]

14. Have you guys watched the video with Wallace talking about it...

... on FoxNews.com?

Unbelievable... Wallace says, "you'll see the good, the bad, and the ugly" when the interview airs Sunday.

Not sure who the Fox anchor Wallace was speaking to, but after watching the heavily-edited, very short clip of Clinton saying "I tried," he said, "That takes me right back to 1998, when Clinton wagged his finger after that, you know, Oval Office incident."

These people are unfuckingbelievable.

[BurtWorm]

16. I just watched it.

Unbefuckinglievable.

[pa28]

15. Is anyone bold enough to say "liberal media" with a straight face now? NT