Albert Einstein is quoted as saying that an empty stomach is not a good time to have a political discussion. Nor is a divisive presidential election year a good time to have a commission charged with finding out what may have gone wrong with our preparedness prior to September 11 and figuring out what we might learn to protect our homeland.
Strengthening America is not going to be the result of these partisan Commission hearings on Capitol Hill. Even the timing is clearly suspect from the scheduling of Richard Clarkes self-serving book release to coincide with his bitter testimony, to the Commissions report due at the start of the Democratic National Convention this summer.
All of this is exacerbated by the controversy about the testimony of National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleeza Rice who has been pummeled by the establishment media and the Democrats as if she has not testified at all. Its the old story about if a tree falls and no one is there, does it make a noise? Of course Dr. Rice has testified in private for hours and by all accounts has been cooperative. The public has seen Dr. Rice perform brilliantly in public including last weekend on 60 Minutes.
This does not satisfy the vicious Bush haters who want to catch Dr. Rice or anyone else in the administration because to them its a game of gotcha. Throughout its questioning, this Commission has behaved as if what happened in the first eight months of the Bush Presidency regarding our efforts against terrorism is more important than what happened in the eight years of President Clinton. The eight years in which we were attacked half a dozen times by Al Qaeda.
I agree with the only Democrat in the Senate who makes any sense, and that is Zell Miller of Georgia. He has stated that the bitter partisanship and rancor being displayed by this Commission and the Democrats out on the campaign trail are demoralizing the troops fighting the war on terror and demoralizing the American people as a whole. He is quite right.
Read the rest here:
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/3/31/92901.shtml
Strengthening America is not going to be the result of these partisan Commission hearings on Capitol Hill. Even the timing is clearly suspect from the scheduling of Richard Clarkes self-serving book release to coincide with his bitter testimony, to the Commissions report due at the start of the Democratic National Convention this summer.
All of this is exacerbated by the controversy about the testimony of National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleeza Rice who has been pummeled by the establishment media and the Democrats as if she has not testified at all. Its the old story about if a tree falls and no one is there, does it make a noise? Of course Dr. Rice has testified in private for hours and by all accounts has been cooperative. The public has seen Dr. Rice perform brilliantly in public including last weekend on 60 Minutes.
This does not satisfy the vicious Bush haters who want to catch Dr. Rice or anyone else in the administration because to them its a game of gotcha. Throughout its questioning, this Commission has behaved as if what happened in the first eight months of the Bush Presidency regarding our efforts against terrorism is more important than what happened in the eight years of President Clinton. The eight years in which we were attacked half a dozen times by Al Qaeda.
I agree with the only Democrat in the Senate who makes any sense, and that is Zell Miller of Georgia. He has stated that the bitter partisanship and rancor being displayed by this Commission and the Democrats out on the campaign trail are demoralizing the troops fighting the war on terror and demoralizing the American people as a whole. He is quite right.
Read the rest here:
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/3/31/92901.shtml
