Bumiller/Miller: Ex-Bush Aide, Finding Fault, Sets Off Debate

[DeepModem Mom]

New York Times, page one:

Ex-Bush Aide, Finding Fault, Sets Off Debate
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and JUDITH MILLER

Published: March 23, 2004


WASHINGTON, March 22 — As the White House opened an aggressive personal attack against its former counterterrorism chief, Richard A. Clarke, a furious debate broke out on Monday about the credibility of his assertion that President Bush pushed him the day after the Sept. 11 attacks to see if there was a link with Saddam Hussein....

***

Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, responded at a White House briefing on Monday that Mr. Bush did not remember having the conversation, and that there were no records that placed the president in the Situation Room at the time.

Mr. Clarke countered in a telephone interview on Monday that he had four witnesses, including Mr. Cressey, who is a partner with Mr. Clarke in a consulting company that advises on cybersecurity issues. In an interview, Mr. Cressey said the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, also witnessed the exchange. Administration officials said Ms. Rice had no recollection of it....

***

The angry White House response to Mr. Clarke, which was authorized by Mr. Bush, reflects the administration's fears over the book's potential political damage. In a daylong assault on Monday, administration officials portrayed Mr. Clarke, a secretive, combative terrorism expert who spent more than three decades working in the Reagan, Clinton and both Bush administrations, as a bitter former employee who had been denied the No. 2 position in the Department of Homeland Security and who was now trying to help the Kerry campaign....

(The article quotes Mr. Clarke as responding in the telephone interview: "This is the way the Bush administration deals with people, with ad hominem attacks, and trying to suppress the truth."


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/23/politics/23CLAR.html

[FlashHarry]

1. Steno Judy? No thanks. N/T

[Cooley Hurd]

3. She wasted no time...

...getting the WH's POV out there.

You should read some of the things they've written in Editor & Publisher (print journalism's trade mag) about Judith Miller. I'm surprised she even has a job anymore. Didn't they purge the paper of all the liars when they fired Jayson Blair?

[JoFerret]

2. Raw nerves

...the fury of the counter-offensive is a sure sign that Clarke is on target. The stakes are high. The toothpaste is escaping. The White House is having to do a lot of denials recently. But will anyone accept any shred of responsibility? Doubtful.

[Cooley Hurd]

5. The WH's response speaks volumes...

...about the seriousness of the charges. They're making in their pants over this!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. Looks like Clarke struck a major nerve...good!

[yltlatl]

6. Agreed

And Dems need to press the attack. Somebody needs to be standing up and shouting and pointing out that this is least the second or third time former administration officials have publicly made the allegation that Bushco spelled Al Qaeda I-R-A-Q from day one.

Btw, I don't care if Clarke makes a billion bucks on this book, he's playing the game the right way--a coordinated media attack is the only way for anyone to get heard in the national "news" media these days. The repukes should get used to playing the game by the rules they created.

[Moderator]

7. Locking

Dupe. Discuss here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=438734