Condi Rice testifies before 9-11 commission

[Drake Tungsten]

Meanwhile the likes of Bob Kerry continue to make fools of themselves.

Bob Kerrey is no fool. Condi Rice just happens to be an incredibly intelligent woman who got the better of him in this case.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Agathon
Well I don't know how things are in the US, but in a country with a free press (Canada) she got pilloried.

Are you on crack?

If anything CTV and the CBC are reporting her appearance very favourably.

[joncha]

Originally posted by notyoueither


Are you on crack?

If anything CTV and the CBC are reporting her appearance very favourably.

I thought the National was pretty hard on her, and most of the clips showed up her arrogant side, but they did (in good journalist fashion) allow her arguments to come out. The also followed it up with Neil Macdonald's strongly critical report on Iraq.

[notyoueither]

Are you reading in your own reaction to her own words?

Even the Toronto Star (the most Liberal of papers) report had her doing very well. They actually acknowledged the partisan nature of the commission.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by notyoueither

If anything CTV and the CBC are reporting her appearance very favourably.

CTV is a joke when it comes to these things and the CBC gave her a hard time, saying that Clarke was basically right. OF course the CBC is about the best you get in North America, but why not just stick to the joke media as usual...

Gotta say it's funny to watch people defending her. But then I suppose people defended Nixon just as vehemently. The funny thing is that Nixon was a powder puff compared to these crooks.

[joncha]

The commission is partisan, and heavily so. It doesn't make her any less wrong, though.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Agathon


CTV is a joke when it comes to these things and the CBC gave her a hard time, saying that Clarke was basically right. OF course the CBC is about the best you get in North America, but why not just stick to the joke media as usual...

Gotta say it's funny to watch people defending her. But then I suppose people defended Nixon just as vehemently. The funny thing is that Nixon was a powder puff compared to these crooks.

Actually, the joke here is a Kiwi telling us all how things work over here. That is freeking priceless.

from the Toronto Star:

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1081420326601&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154

Rice, the president's most loyal ally and trusted confidante, has a reputation as intelligent, unflappable and somewhat imperious. She admitted no mistakes and made no apologies today in a hearing considered critical to Bush's electoral fortunes.

The president refused for weeks to allow her to testify. He changed course after explosive allegations two weeks ago from former anti-terrorism czar Richard Clarke, who said top officials "ignored" warnings about the urgent threat of the Al Qaeda terrorist network until it was too late.

Clarke has also accused Bush, who's seeking re-election this fall as a wartime president, of being so dangerously focused on Iraq he's leaving the country exposed to another terrorist attack.


In turn, the White House has painted Clarke, whose new book is a runaway bestseller, as a bitter opportunist who was out of the decision-making loop before he resigned last year after serving four presidents.

But Rice was careful to praise his abilities, while parrying his criticisms.

Bush understood the importance of the Al Qaeda threat before Sept. 11, she said, and wanted to eliminate the network instead of reacting to each attack as it occurred like previous administrations had done.

"He told me he was tired of swatting at flies," said Rice, who unlike Clarke did not offer an apology to victims' families but thanked them for their help to the commission and shook hands with some of them when the hearing ended.

While Al Qaeda was "on the radar screen," said Rice, so were a lot of other issues, like the Middle East, North Korea and the Balkans.

"One doesn't have the luxury of dealing with only one issue."

Rice credited Bush after Sept. 11 with engaging in a broad "bolder course" against terrorism that included the Iraq invasion but she generally tried to stay away from the sensitive topic.

"The president recognizes our work is far from complete," said Rice, who worked for the previous Bush administration under the current president's father and has attracted a lot of notice as the only black woman in his inner circle.

"We're safer but we're not safe ... This is really the generational challenge," she told commission members, who often made their partisanship clear by the tone of their questions and their tussles with Rice.

Can you show me pilloried in that?

I didn't think so.

Now, why don't you stop trying to speak as a Canadian, cause you don't seem like one to me.

[joncha]

Originally posted by notyoueither
"He told me he was tired of swatting at flies," said Rice, who unlike Clarke did not offer an apology to victims' families but thanked them for their help to the commission and shook hands with some of them when the hearing ended.

The CBC continued the "fly swatting" exchange, ending with Clarke asking how many flies Bush had swatted before 9/11 and Rice's sputtering reply.

But, yeah, that piece was on the front page of the Star, and quite favourable of her. Their coverage of Iraq is a different story.

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Are you reading in your own reaction to her own words?

Even the Toronto Star (the most Liberal of papers) report had her doing very well. They actually acknowledged the partisan nature of the commission.

Even CNN recognized this... lol...

"Gotta say it's funny to watch people defending her. But then I suppose people defended Nixon just as vehemently. The funny thing is that Nixon was a powder puff compared to these crooks."

Really, very rich in B.S. You can't prove any of that.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by joncha


The CBC continued the "fly swatting" exchange, ending with Clarke asking how many flies Bush had swatted before 9/11 and Rice's sputtering reply.

But, yeah, that piece was on the front page of the Star, and quite favourable of her. Their coverage of Iraq is a different story.

I'm sorry, was her appearance about Iraq and did several hundreds of millions of people miss that change of topic?

[The Mad Monk]

I noticed this, nye. Everyone was gung-ho for Condi being put on the spot for the pre-9-11 wrongs of the Bush administration before her appearance, and everyone is talking about what's going on in Iraq now, after her appearance.

That's the clearest indication to me that they got nothing.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by joncha
The commission is partisan, and heavily so. It doesn't make her any less wrong, though.

It's sad though considering the important nature of their work that they allow themselves to be bogged down by such irrelevencies.

[mrmitchell]

Condie goes in front of commission, farlefts say "ooh look at this! Bush is satan!", farrights say "bah, you are El Stupido because bush is da man. you just dont like him because u r jelous", then, everyone who has half a brain left says "I am mrmitchell or someone who agrees with him."

Why is it so easy to apply this to any political action at all?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Because mrmitchill has less than half a brain .

[Agathon]

Originally posted by notyoueither

Can you show me pilloried in that?

I didn't think so.

Now, why don't you stop trying to speak as a Canadian, cause you don't seem like one to me.

Whatever... I haven't read any of the papers yet. I was talking about the TV reports I had seen.

And who says I was speaking as a Canadian? I happen to live here, so it should come as no surprise that I would have watched Canadian TV reports.

The CBC (Newsworld) was pretty harsh on Rice - they even interviewed some of the victims relatives who were pretty angry.

It doesn't make a difference anyway - Rice got a free pass from the US networks as far as I can see.