DKSuddeth
Senior Member
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...=/ap/20040327/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/rice_hot_seat
Rice Discusses Terror, but Not Under Oath
By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON - Condoleezza Rice says the Bush administration has a good story to tell about fighting terrorism and she's pouring it out in television appearances, interviews and newspaper articles. The one place she won't talk is in public, under oath, before the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
That is blossoming into a public relations nightmare.
The White House finds itself in the awkward position of trying to explain why Rice, the national security adviser to President Bush (news - web sites), can talk at length to reporters but not at the commission's televised hearings because of the constitutional principle of separation of powers.
"This is mostly about politics, not about the legalities," said Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional law professor at the College of William and Mary who specializes in separation of powers. "There's not much they can point to as settled law to prevent this. This is a matter of political judgment, not legal judgment. ... It hasn't kept her from talking to the press."
Instead of testifying publicly, Rice is requesting a private meeting with the commission her second such session to discuss what the White House says are mischaracterizations of her statements.
doesn't bode well for a credibility stopper
Rice Discusses Terror, but Not Under Oath
By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON - Condoleezza Rice says the Bush administration has a good story to tell about fighting terrorism and she's pouring it out in television appearances, interviews and newspaper articles. The one place she won't talk is in public, under oath, before the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
That is blossoming into a public relations nightmare.
The White House finds itself in the awkward position of trying to explain why Rice, the national security adviser to President Bush (news - web sites), can talk at length to reporters but not at the commission's televised hearings because of the constitutional principle of separation of powers.
"This is mostly about politics, not about the legalities," said Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional law professor at the College of William and Mary who specializes in separation of powers. "There's not much they can point to as settled law to prevent this. This is a matter of political judgment, not legal judgment. ... It hasn't kept her from talking to the press."
Instead of testifying publicly, Rice is requesting a private meeting with the commission her second such session to discuss what the White House says are mischaracterizations of her statements.
doesn't bode well for a credibility stopper
