"Just as you can't absolve anyone who had responsibility over this
five-year period (before the attacks), I don't feel at this stage of
the game that I'm willing to point the finger at one person,"
9-11 Commissioner Bob Kerry said. (4/13/2004)
"Right now, what I would do differently is, I mean - look, I'm not
the president, and I didn't create this mess, so I don't want to
acknowledge a mistake that I haven't made,"
said John Kerry.
(4/13/2004)
"When things are going as badly as they're going now,"
political scientist Stephen Hess
says, "you really don't have to remind people that they're
going badly, especially when you probably don't have any immediate
solutions for making things go better."
(4/13/2004)
"The Pentagon is quietly recruiting new members to fill local draft
boards, as the machinery for drafting a new generation of young
Americans is being quietly put into place, Young Americans need to
know that a train is coming, and it could run over their generation
in the same way that the Vietnam War devastated the lives of those
who came of age in the sixties,"
Ralph Nader said. (4/13/2004)
If CNN's cameras and correspondents had been positioned at Omaha
Beach on June 6, the pressure on FDR and Winston Churchill to
negotiate a cease-fire by nightfall, "to give peace a chance," would
have been irresistible. -- writes
Wesley Pruden. (4/13/2004)
…Monsieur Kerry is "the tofu candidate," with no flavor of his own,
ready to absorb every flavor, taste, spice or savory, piquant or
not, that touches him. He's the long, tall hunk of tofu that neither
America nor its friends or the friends of friends could easily
survive. -- writes Wesley Pruden.
(4/13/2004)
"Now, the 9/11 commission hearings are going to analyze that which
went on and hopefully bring recommendations forward to help this
administration and future administrations do our solemn duty to
protect the American people," he
said. "And that's why I think the hearings are a good thing,
particularly when they address any weaknesses in the system,"
said President Bush.
(4/12/2004)
"Don't make me the person to go tell Condi Rice and Karen Hughes
that they were just mouthpieces and didn't contribute to policy,"
Karl Rove. "They're very
smart able leaders. Frankly, I think the suggestion that they are
token representation is offensive, or ignorant, or both."
(4/12/2004)
"But like no president since John F. Kennedy, I'm going to ask young
people to give something back. I'm going to ask you to serve your
country to go out into your communities and teach children, be
mentors, build homes and protect America,"
John Kerry said.
(4/12/2004)
Clarke, the hero of his own book, also comes off very well in
Richard Miniter's "Losing bin Laden." Clarke was an important source
for Miniter's book, the subtitle of which is "How Bill Clinton's
Failures Unleashed Global Terror." Miniter writes: "Through sheer
force of will, [Clarke] coordinated an alphabet soup of federal
agencies. . . . Imagine what he could have accomplished if Clinton
had publicly endorsed his efforts." A melancholy -- and familiar --
refrain: Presidents have failed Clarke.
-- writes George Will.
(4/10/2004)
In a sense, it came down to two concepts of how a president should
operate: the Bush team's view that the chief executive should
delegate authority, and the view espoused by Clarke and others that
the White House should actively work to ensure that effective action
is taken — including "shaking the trees" to move sometimes-hidebound
government agencies. -- writes
Maura Reynolds, L.A. Times.
(4/10/2004)
''This was a historical [August 6th,2001] memo.
. . . It was not based on
new threat information,'' she
said. Rice argued that she did not interpret it as a warning that
required action on her part. ''This was not a threat report
to the president or a threat report to me,''
said Condoleezza Rice.
(4/10/2004)
"He [Bill Clinton] indicated he didn't feel that he had quite enough
proof to take action. I think he did have enough proof to take
action. That's a difference of opinion."
said Commissioner Kerrey.
(4/10/2004)
If we fail, if we cut and run the results can be disastrous,"
said Sen. John McCain.
"Those results would be the fragmentation of Iraq on ethnic and
religious lines. the second result would be an unchecked hotbed ...
of individuals who are committed to the destruction of the United
States of America."
(4/8/2004)
"Increasing the US troop presence in Iraq will only suck us deeper
and deeper and deeper into the maelstrom -- into the quicksand of
violence that has become the hallmark of that unfortunate, miserable
country," Sen. Robert Byrd said.
(4/8/2004)
Kennedy "should be a little more restrained and careful in his
comments because we are at war,"
Powell said.
(4/7/2004)
"I am not and will not be a candidate for Vice President of the
United States, and I will not leave the Republican party,"
said Senator John McCain.
(4/7/2004)
"It is staggeringly clear that the Administration did not understand
the consequences of invading Iraq a year ago... It is time -- past
time -- for the President to remedy that omission and to level with
the American people about the magnitude of mistakes made and lessons
learned," said Senator Robert
Byrd.
(4/7/2004)
"When you plunge our country into war on a platform of fabrications
and deceptions, and you bring back thousands of American soldiers
who are sick, injured or dead, and that war is unconstitutionally
authorized to begin with, Mr. Bush's behavior qualifies for the high
crimes and misdemeanor impeachment clause of the Constitution,"
said Ralph Nader.
(4/7/2004)
"What we have to tell the two parties in unmistakable terms is that
this country does not belong to two parties,"
Ralph Nader responded to Howard
Dean’s comment that a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush.
(4/7/2004)
"Lying under oath is not a trivial offense, but it cannot compare
with deceiving the American people night after night after night on
national television, staging untruths and rejecting the advice of
his [Bush] advisers," said Ralph
Nader.
(4/7/2004)
"I think they [Bush administration] wanted to get the troops out and
get the transfer out of the way as fast as possible without regard
to the stability of Iraq," John
Kerry said. "The test ought to be the stability of Iraq and
not an arbitrary date ... it should not be related to the
election." (4/7/2004)
"It may be one of those moments when we look back and say 'before'
or 'after' Condoleezza Rice's testimony,"
said James Hilty, a specialist in
the presidency at Temple University. "She has become the
prime defender of the administration's national security policy."
(4/7/2004)
"She's [Condoleezza Rice] a very smart, capable person who knows
exactly what took place, and will lay out the facts…. I'm looking
forward to people hearing her,"
President Bush said.
(4/7/2004)
"Condi is not a moral relativist," said Coit D. Blacker,
director of Stanford's Institute for International Studies and a
Rice confidant. "She has very strong views that are informed by a
certain kind of religiosity…. She thinks through issues carefully,
seeks divine guidance, makes a decision and sticks to it. Other
people might call that being stubborn."
(4/7/2004)
"This country immediately went on war footing, and we went to war
against al Qaeda. It took me very little time to make up my mind,"
he said. "Once I determined
al Qaeda [did] it, [I said], 'We're going to go get them.' And we
have, and we're going to keep after them until they're brought to
justice and America is secure,"
President Bush said.
(4/6/2004)
"I'll put out a positive message, define myself to people — there's
plenty of time here," said John
Kerry.
(4/6/2004)
"Someone recently asked my opponent why he had voted against the $87
billion funding bill to help our troops in Iraq. Here's what he said
-- he actually said this: `I actually did vote for the $87 billion,
before I voted against it.' End of quote. The president must speak
clearly," President Bush said.
(4/6/2004)
"…a vote for Ralph Nader is the same as a vote for George Bush,"
said Howard Dean.
(4/6/2004)
But here's the surprise: The misery index for George W.'s
administration is lowest of all six of those worthies. George W.
inherited the Clinton misery index of 8.4 percent and has shaved it
(so far) to 7.7 percent. You just wouldn't know it from the coverage
of the economy. The Wall Street Journal calls it "the Rodney
Dangerfield recovery" because, as Rodney might say, "it don't get no
respect." -- writes Wesley Pruden
of the Washington Times.
(4/6/2004)
"Even if, let us say for a minute that Iraq was a mistake, as some
people are trying to argue," he
continued, "I'd rather have a president who errs on the side
of defending this country, and going after our enemies, than
somebody like John Kerry, who wants to sit on his butt and does
nothing while Americans die. And I think that's the key issue here,"
said Alan Keyes.
(4/6/2004)
"The brouhaha about whether the new Bush administration treated the
threat of al Qaeda as 'important' versus 'urgent' is history almost
as ancient as whether FDR did enough to avert Pearl Harbor,"
writes William Safire.
(4/6/2004)
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