Katie Couric Hammers Condoleeza on SHRUB's AWOL!

[djg21]

IT was beautiful!

Katie brought up all the discrepancies created by the newly released pay stubs AND, she sought an explanation about Shrub's grounding after failing to submit to a medical exam.

Of course, Condy started with the canned crap about Shrub's decisiveness as Commander in Chief. Katie turned the attention to his honesty, pointed out the latest CNN poll in which 55% thought there was a problem with Shrub's credibility, and asked Condy whether it weas correct to assume that people have the right to expect honesty from their President.

Condy was on her heels, and clearly blind-sided!

Truly a beautiful moment. And the press isn't giving Shrub a freebie this time around!

[NJCher]

1. I completely disagree

Here is the e-mail I just dashed off:

[e-mail] <[e-mail]>

Katie, I saw you interview Condoleeza Rice this morning (February 11). You asked the right questions but when Rice babbled on with the administration's "WMD, gassed his own people, madman, terrist, " routine (which we have all heard ad nauseum), you let us all down. You should have interrupted her and said, firmly, "Dr. Rice, you are not answering my question." Then you should have insisted on an answer. If an answer was not forthcoming, you should have said, "It appears the question about the missing six months in George Bush's military past will remain unanswered."

Do not let these people get away with monopolizing the time for an answer to which the American people are entitled. Their tactics are clear--evade the issue by using the time to put out the message they desire. If you, the interviewer, does not challenge them on this then they are successful.


Cher

[0007]

11. Thank you Cher. I agree with you 110%

Another question I would have brought up with Condoleezza Rich would have been; where did junior do his Community Service in 1972. The Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Houston's Third Ward, or was it Project P.U.L.L.? And why was he doing community servcie?

[saltpoint]

17. Hey Cher --

-- Count me in with you on this one. I'd hire you in a second to take Katie's job.

[djg21]

26. A need for subtlety.

Katie got her point across loud and clear. She effectively has put the administration in a position in which it must respond and cannot. There's definitely something to be said for not asking the "gotcha" question. She set up Condoleeza, and reasonable persons (along with most idiots -- even Freepers) have no choice but to infer that Shrub and his Administration are lying and obfuscating, and being evasive. The only rational conclusion one can draw is that Shrub has something to hide. What more can we ask for! I appreciate the subtlety.

[NJCher]

33. the American people are too collectively stupid for subtlety

I wish it were so but it is not. Clear, direct communication is what we need now.

See Plaid Adder's column today and you will see why I say that and also why what the poster (later on in this thread) says to attack him on every front. People go for shrub because they think he reflects their belief system. When we show him up for the lazy liar he is, that alienates more and more people.


Cher

[9215]

43. Sorta, but I'd go with NJCher

The Press needs to well, press a little harder. But I think the interview was not a cave in by Couric.

Couric challenged Jim Baker before the Gulf War one and sent him back on his heels. That interview was explosive but shut out of the mainstream quickly. She has the fire in her, but is too damn careful these days.

[soleft]

2. Later she was talking to Tim Russert

and Tim Russert said, we have to study what the National Guard was like at the time so we can continue to report this in a fair and balanced way. Unreal!

[Robin Hood]

10. Here;s what the National Guard has to say.

http://www.ang.af.mil/history/Forging.asp

<snip>Vietnam revealed a negative aspect of relying on reservists. For largely domestic political reasons, President Johnson chose not to mobilize most of the nation's reserve forces. The 1968 callups were only token affairs. Johnson's decision to avoid a major reserve mobilization was opposed by the senior leadership of both the active duty military establishment and the reserve forces, but to no avail. The Reserves and the Guard acquired reputations as draft havens for relatively affluent young white men. Military leaders questioned the wisdom of depending on reserve forces that might not be available except in dire emergencies.

Race had emerged as another major issue with flowering of the American civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. For over a decade after the active duty military establishment had begun to integrate its ranks during the Korean War, the National Guard had remained an almost exclusively white organization. Discrimination varied, but ten states with large black populations and understaffed Guard units still had no black Guardsmen in their ranks as late as 1961. Secretary of Defense McNamara had tried to encourage voluntary integration in the early 1960s, with little success. The NGB had disputed his legal authority to force integration while the Guard was under state control. It had also argued that integration would be political suicide for some governors and would hurt the military capabilities of their units.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited the use of federal funds to support discriminatory activities, dramatically altered the attitude of the Defense Department toward racial discrimination in the National Guard. It gave federal officials the power to force integration regardless of who controlled the Guard in peacetime. But, real progress in effectively integrating the Guard did not come until the 1970s.

[NNN0LHI]

14. Yep. It was a way for rich white guys to dodge the draft back then

Even the ANG admits it. Maybe Tim should check this ANG website himself?

Don

[kskiska]

20. Even before Vietnam it was a way to avoid the draft

My ex-husband joined the Guard in the late 50s to avoid the draft, which was still in effect after WWII. It wasn't necessarily rich guys then, just guys who didn't want to be in the army.

[Mountainman]

36. I remember being in basic and later with guardsmen

We all went to radar school at Fort Monmouth, NJ and we knew we were either going to Germany or Vietnam. There were no other assignments for us. But the guardsmen knew they were going home after the training. I could not enlist in the guard before I got drafted because of the waiting list. Most guardsmen I met did have nice cars on post like GTOs or OLDs 442s or Dodge hemis.

[xray s]

3. She should ask why Bush will not say he did not use drugs before 1974

Maybe next time....

[bowens43]

6. I don't think it's a good idea

to make drug use an issue.....

[xray s]

15. I think it is where the AWOL story will ultimately lead

http://www.bushwatch.com/bushcoke.htm

According to an AP report today, Bush held another press conference and said that "he could have passed stringent background checks for illegal drug use when his father was president, from 1989-1993." ASSUMING Bush meant that he would have taken the background check in January of 1989, that would mean that he's saying he hasn't used cocaine in 11 years, since he said yesterday that he hasn't used cocaine in the last seven years. However, Bush added, "Not only could I have passed in today's White House, I could have passed the standards applied under the most stringent conditions when my dad was president, a 15-year period." Of course, Poppy was only President for 4 years, and 7 and 4 equal 11, not 15. " Since "the Bush White House asked staff members if they had used any illegal drugs in the last 15 years," reporters may have ASSUMED that Bush meant those 15 years, but that's not what he said. ASSUMING Bush meant that he could have passed the 15-year drug test at the beginning of his father's presidency, that would make the total non-coke time 26 years, which is how a Bush spinner seems to have interpreted Dubya's statement: "Bush spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said the Republican presidential front-runner was saying that he has not used illegal drugs at any time since 1974, when the 53-year-old Bush was 28." However, "Asked if Bush could have met the standard when his father was vice president, from 1981-1989, Tucker said, 'My understanding is he was answering questions regarding when his dad was president, not vice president,' leaving the actual non-coke span up in the air. What we're left with, then, is that we're sure Bush has not answered the question about cocaine use, one way or the other, prior to his 29th birthday. From age 29 on, we're in need of some clarification from Bush, not a spinner. A statement like "I didn't use hard drugs after age 29" would suffice. Until then, we're mired in waffle-talk. One way or the other, the question that has been asked for months remains unanswered, did Bush use hard drugs at any time in his life? Politex, 8/19/99

Was he using drugs while he was in the TANG? A failed physical covered up with Bush weasel words about his days of "youthful indiscretion"? Last night Tucker Carlson said Bush should have handled his AWOL issue like his drug use question and just told the press to blow off :). Hey, thanks for reminding us, Tucker!

[BillZBubb]

27. It is a great idea to make drug use an issue

If we can document a conviction for drug use by Shrub, his doom is sealed.

Moderate voters won't like the fact that this supposed man of character lied by omission about his past. They also won't like his hypocrisy on the issue.

We need to attack Bush* from every possible angle for every single day of this campaign. Nothing is off the table. That's the only way to negate the $250 million the right will spend to sell him to the electorate.

[onethatcares]

39. and that's a fact

everything, and i mean EVERYTHING, should be used, pictures of him pickin his schnoz/drug use/awol/the lies and the coverups/harken/elbusto/ken lay/obl/ the saudi royal family, all of it. Do you think rove is going to let one item off the list of the dem candidate? bet your ass it's gonna be gloves off all the way. What we should be scared of telling the truth? if we are, we may as well pack it in and go away.

[Tripper11]

4. So far! Be prepared though....

I along with many other DUers I am sure still harbor a lot of skepticism when it comes to the press and Shrub. Finally this AWOL thing has legs, but for how long? What will be the next distraction? You have to know it's coming.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

5. NPR was highly critical of Scot Mclelland this AM

by playing the harrassing the press was giving him - not just the soundbites. If you hear just what he said it's very different than hearing how he evaded every question and just stayed "on message" which I now hear as "on lie".

[1gobluedem]

28. Yes

It was great to hear that -- McClellan was clearly uncomfortable and upset. Good!

[Tripper11]

7. I'm wondering if this keeps up....

and I think it will, I actually think it may get worse coming into the election season and all, how long it will be before Scott says "fuck it, I'm outta here".

[chillwindblowing]

8. what time was it????

Iam in the central time zone ... Hope I didn't miss it.......

[jean]

13. Tim Robbins would be proud of your name! Welcome!

If people haven't read Robbins' excellent speech, given to the National Press Club April 15, 2003, here it is:

Chill Wind Blowing

[goclark]

37. I Love Tim Robbins

I heard that April Speech and it blew me away.
He graduated from UCLA and he is one smart cookie.
Hope he wins the Academy Award.
Hope he runs for office one day.

[Sticky]

9. The only thing that stood out in that interview was...

Condi making huge deal about bush WMD speech today.

Katie says, " Is this speech an attempt to distract the American people from the National Guard issue?" Hehehe

Condi: blah, blah, blah......WMD, 9/11. danger, shadowy figures, time of peril....spin, spin, spin.....


The entire administration is a one horse dog and pony show.

[Loonman]

12. Condi is so damn incompetent

She is not cut out for the job of NSA chief.

[Michael Harrington]

40. True, too true.

Doctorate notwithstanding, she's a lot like Clarence: a lot of academic credentials covering a third-rate mind.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Now I understand why the Republican soccer parents on my daughter's

soccer team are so riled up at Couric. hee-hee. Go Katie. I think the Repub parents are getting just a little perplexed that liberals are once again expressing their views on t.v. And worse, that those liberal p.o.v.'s are beginning to resonate. Yesterday one of the parents that was so vocally against Couric tried to tell a right-wing joke and when he got to the punchline, no one laughed. It was dead silence. I'm sure he was embarrassed.

[Kahuna]

18. Great! The video should be on MSNBC later..

Can't wait to see it.

[CatWoman]

44. it's here

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032633/

3 of 9

[Az]

19. Condi kept using the no answer answer

Katie asked a question Condi would answer a different question. I really hate how modern interviewers do not flag the fact that their questions are not being answered.

[Terwilliger]

21. Sounds like what Bush did on Russert

He did not answer any question directly unless they were softballs.

[KharmaTrain]

22. Stop The Trashing Of The Guard

These goons are trying to turn "Where Was George" into Democrats are attacking the integrity of the National Guard. That's gotta be squashed and turned to our advantage.

Katie deserves credit for taking it to Condoscending Rice, and out of courtesy had to let her get her spin in. I think a lot of people are wise to this avoiding and the question of credibility goes right to the fact a majority of people now can't believe what this regime is saying. And what does Condi go and do? Spins away and avoids...good going, counselor.

The GOOP talking point is to take the heat off of bunnypants (and many other Chickenhawks) by exciting the base with the "liberals are trashing the military again" crap. It has to be shouted loudly that this isn't a question about the Guard and it's role in Nam, it's WHERE WAS GEORGE.

Then we shine the light on how bunnypants got preferential treatment to get in...and now uses that same Guard as cannon fodder for the Iraq invasion and other adventures. Repugicans are real, real uneasy about this AWOL story that won't go away...right now they're stuck in this tar baby...what we need to do is keep throwing more tar.

[Az]

23. Spin it right back at them

Get out there championing the idea that that Guard and the Military are about honor, duty, and sacrifice. None of which * has. He joined the guard to avoid the war, he skipped out on his duty, and he sacrificed others to get ahead doing it.

[KharmaTrain]

25. We Have To Draw Clear Lines...

Dumbya used the guard to avoid a war he now claims he supported...got ahead of others who were more qualified, and then walked away. Millions didn't have that luxuary...58,000 of them are name on a wall in D.C. that were once living, breathing young people who never had the connections nor the luxuary this frat boy did and still does.

This goes right to the issue of this boy never assuming responsibility...a trait that has led to disaster. This boy never sacraficed, never had to break a real sweat in life until now. Damn does kharma feel real good when it's fueled by the truth.

[calimary]

30. We should start repeating that bush DISHONORED the Guard.

It was totally bush who dishonored the Guard and the Military in general and is still making it look bad. Who else has left our armed forces with a bigger black eye? Who in our history? ANYBODY else? Just little boy "bring 'em on."

[eleny]

34. Right! Dems aren't trashing the Guard - Bush did...

when he treated it with disrespect by turning his back on his sworn duty. Didn't he take an oath when he joined? I thought that the Repugs consider oaths to be of critical importance. Guess they're only important regarding The Clenis.

[ewagner]

24. Excellent point

Can't let them get away with obfuscation again.

[stopbush]

29. Any words spoken that may be construed as "trashing the Guard"

pale in comparison to shrub's "trashing the Guard" through his ACTIONS.

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[dflprincess]

32. I wouldn't say it was a hammering but

it was a lot more than I ever expected to see from Katie Couric. I almost turned it off when Condi came on. Glad I didn't, I was pleasantly surprised by Katie.

Things have gotton bad for the cabal when even she's trying to go after them.

[lebkuchen]

35. If CNNI has to drag Armstrong Williams out to defend Bush

it means the GOPpers are scraping the bottom of the barrel.

[goclark]

38. Running For Cover

The others are running for cover. Interesting how they put CondiCane,Colon and now scumbag Armstrong out to defend this sorry administration.

Is it me or are they using my people to do their dirty work?


"Dick Cheney? Dick Cheney? Where Arrrrre You? Come out and Talk To Us! Come out In The Fresh Air and Talk To Real People Instead Of Standing Behind A Podium In Front Of The Flags and Your Cronnies "

[Michael Harrington]

41. At this rate...

Walter Williams will crawl back onto my screen.

[annagull]

42. They always trot out their Black repukes (all 3 of them)

whenever they get deep in the shit. It really is degrading, they get them to clean up after their messes.

[Snappy]

45. Cocaine Use and Missed Physical

That should be the issue now.