Bush*/Cheney will 'meet' with the 9-11 commission in the Oval Office

- What more proof do we need that Bush* and Cheney consider themselves above the law and the other coequal branches of government? What more proof do we need that the 9-11 commission is a sham and a joke on equal justice and the American people?

- The commission was set up to EXONERATE the Bush* government...not make them accountable.

...to bow and scape at his feet. Why has this 'bipartisan' commission allowed the Bushies to SET ALL THE TERMS of this 'testimony'? No cameras or microphones. No transcripts. Only ONE member of the commission 'allowed' to take notes. No testimony under oath.

- What the phuck is gong on? Everyone knows this is a dog and pony show and the commission is simply going through the motions at this point.

...I think they might have created a monster by attacking Gorelick.

Hey Jamie, got a publisher yet?

But the REAL reason they are having the "testimony" on the Oval Office: awesome earbud reception!!!!! I mean, since Tricky Dick is right there next to him, so SOMEBODY has to be feeding answers to Georgie.

...it's nothing more than a 'conversation' that won't be recorded for history or checked for facts.

. . . who can't start a thread and DU this poll!

Should Bush and Cheney have testified together or separately? * 18872 responses


Together is fine
16%

Separately of course
75%

It doesn't matter
6%

I don't care
3%

Well . . . DUH!




http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4853524/

...but they have lost their voice: the free press.

- It's up to the Media and Loyal Opposition to call this what it is: obstruction of justice.

scroll down to find poll

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4853524/


Should Bush and Cheney have testified together or separately? * 19124 responses


Together is fine
16%

Separately of course
75%

It doesn't matter
6%

I don't care
3%

Sad to say I think you are exactly right. It's freaking sickening.

I just don't get how all the redneck flag humpers living around my area can look at this and still think Bush is some great patriot. He begged off Vietnam and now he's begging off participating in the comission as anyone with NOTHING TO HIDE would NOT need to do.

Not only is Bush's pimp "Dick" Cheney going to be present to keep his simian puppet in line, but White House Counsel Al Gonzalez will be present, probably to jump in and halt any line of questioning that might get at whatever these two clowns are covering up.

...and everyone should know it by now. I'm shocked that the DEMOCRATS on the commission haven't put up more of a fight to get the little dictator to testify under oath or at least record the 'meeting' with those who were in charge on 9-11.

- It's a shame that the worse security failure in American history and the death of 3000 is shrouded in secrecy so that Bush's* chance for election is not harmed in any way.

http://www.redefeatbush.com/downloads/sorry.swf

http://www.redefeatbush.com/

betcha they will

they need to have a smoking gun, just in case.

The commission is able to take notes but if a dispute surfaces later on, magically, a (mechanically altered) "tape" will surface ala Nixon but to defend not convict.

The whole thing is a sham, no surprise here.

My wife (she is so good at thinking outside even the DU box) looked at me this morning and said, "They are making them come into the Oval Office? That is a very intimadting setting"

My questions are-Isn't that going to be awfully cramped?
Are they allowed to bring any staff? Where would THEY sit/stand?

only notes taken.. Both Clinton and Gore were taped.

according to one report yesterday

Jr making some snide jokes.....making up nicknames...Hey Crip - (to Bob Kerry)...Cheney telling everyone to sit down and make themselves comfortable....sit close to the hidden microphones... Dubya tells them he has an important job to do so they need to hurry...Smirk and Sneer Show! What a happening!

Woodward alluded to recordings when Bandar challenged him on the timeline of when he was informed vs. Powell. Woodward seemed to know they have recording capabilities. So no doubt they will tape this. So when we actually get them in a courtroom or impeachment proceeding we'll have to get our hands on the recording.

"You gonna eat that?"
"No, Mr. President, you can have it. Now then, about that August 6th memo..."
"Are you sure? I don't want you to give it to me just because I'm the President 'n all. Crip already gave me his... hey, Shorty already ate his, what's up with that?! I get first dibs on mints, this is MY Oval Office! Naw, I'm just kiddin' ya. Naw, I don't want it now that you've had it in your mouth. Well... ok, then. Are you sure? How bout you, Blue Eyes, you gonna eat yours? Oh, man, I can't believe it, our time is up! Time sure flies."

It's like having a toddler for president.

I'm trying to keep laughing, because I've noticed that whenever I stop laughing, I begin screaming and trying to pull my own head off.

- One more factoid: only ONE member of the commission will be 'allowed' to take notes.

- Also: there WON'T be any recordings. This is one of the reasons they're holding this charade in the oval office...under the tightest security in the WH.

in this Dan Froomkin column:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/politics/administration/whbriefing/

Problems With the White House Narrative

Scott J. Paltrow had a story in the Wall Street Journal last month that bears revisiting today because its revelations were almost completely overlooked in the scrum over the release of Richard A. Clarke's book.

Allow me to plagiarize from my own March 22 column:

Paltrow wrote: "Among other things, the commission is examining such questions as how long Mr. Bush remained in a Florida classroom just after the World Trade Center strikes, whether there really was a threat to Air Force One that day, how effectively American fighter jets reacted to the attacks, and who activated the national-emergency-response plan."

White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr., who famously whispered in the president's ear, "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack," has previously said that Bush left the Florida classroom he was sitting in within seconds.

But Paltrow wrote that "uncut videotape of the classroom visit obtained from the local cable-TV station director who shot it, and interviews with the teacher and principal, show that Mr. Bush remained in the classroom not for mere seconds, but for at least seven additional minutes. He followed along for five minutes as children read aloud a story about a pet goat. Then he stayed for at least another two minutes, asking the children questions and explaining to Ms. Rigell that he would have to leave more quickly than planned.

Paltrow wrote: "Both Republican and Democratic commissioners have said they are focusing closely on what happened next -- and whether mere minutes could have affected the outcome on Sept. 11. The panel's investigators are looking at questions such as the timeliness of presidential orders about intercepting the jet that at 9:37 a.m. plowed into the Pentagon."

Paltrow also wrote that Bush could not have been telling the truth when he told a town-hall meeting in December, 2001: "I was sitting outside the classroom, waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly myself, and I said, 'Well, there's one terrible pilot.' "

There was no such video until late that night, and the TV wasn't even plugged in, Paltrow wrote.... "

Will any of the commissioners be speaking to the media after this "meeting" today? Is there any reason why they couldn't?

Of course, anything they say can be parsed or denied forever since they weren't even all allowed to take notes, for crying out loud!!

he stayed in the classroom closer to 20 minutes. not only 7.

One of the most disgusting aspects of today's charade is that the commision agreed to these ridiculous conditions at all. They should have told the WH to take a hike.

I wonder if Queen George will serve high tea during the little encounter?

...where the little dictator doesn't have the upper hand in HOW the testimony is given. But that's probably not important at this point...considering the fact the commission's hands were tied from the very beginning.

- Can you imagine a scenario where Clinton demanded and got such special considerations in his testimony regarding MonicaGate? It never would have happened because the Republicans wouldn't have tolerated such special treatment for a president 'not above the law'.

Could W even find that room?

- Just ask the families of the victims of 9-11. They're asking 'safe' questions that will never lead to the real truth: that the Bush* government was either asleep at the switch or they intentionally 'igored' the myriad warnings and let it happen. We KNOW what they had to gain by letting it happen. We're WITNESSING the virtual takeover of our government and the waging of aggressive war against nation(s) that had NOTHING to do with 9-11.

as I posted above it is a very intimidating setting. They should have never agreed to it. In addition to being in THE Oval Office I can't see where it would be anything but uncomfortable-sort like a reverse interrogation technique.

cause they al think i am a puppet. tell me all the answers i am suppose to give

They could ask him questions as they help him clear brush and fish for trout.

place the seed of doubt in the stanchest Bush supporter who believe he's such a heroic "war president" and "leader of the war on terror."

How will freepers/fundies be able to explain that their God-chosen, morally and ethically upright President cannot explain his own policies or actions regarding 9/11 before an investigative committee without the Vice-President there to hold his hand...?

The media will have to go into "super high-spin mode" to counter this perception...

F**k you, George! When asked why you AND Cheney need to testify before the 9/11 Commission TOGETHER, don't answer with "'Cuz they want us to answer questions." YOU know what the reporters were asking! ANSWER the f**king QUESTION!!!

and fill the whole day with.

"<Dan Bartlett> expected the president, not Cheney, to do most of the talking."

OK, but let's see if Cheney can drink a glass of water at the same time! :silly:

Lying rat bastards will lie when they need to.edit spelling

Brokaw is doing a Special Report on the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the questioning of the Bush/Cheney tag team for the 911 Commission's interviews.

CBS must be shaming them into at least halfheartedly looking concerned about the blatant White House "cover up" of the 911 events.

Uh-oh that means "middle 'Murka" will see it.

I'd bet that they will go with the "This is nothing out of the ordinary" angle.

and on the tele for Brokaw to "do something" to diffuse the impression of GROSS WH improprietys ..

IOW..

TOM, PUT SOME LIPSTICK ON THIS PIG!

...and I'm ashamed that Democrats are actually participating in this facade. By their inaction...they're helping the Bushies obstuct justice.

- 9-11 was the beginning of the end of demcracy in America. It brought us the Bill of Rights killer Patriot Act...the Homeland security war profiteering act...and let this nation down the wrong path to a war of aggression against faceless enemies of the little dictator's choosing. All of this was accomplished by 'convincing' our representatives they HAD TO give Bush* a blank check to 'protect' us from ourselves.

- And yet...here we have joke of a commission pretending they're trying to get to the bottom of why 9-11 happened WITHOUT assigning blame or responsibility to THOSE IN CHARGE at the time. If George Orwell were still alive he could use this material to write...1984...the sequel.

As in many other cases, we are a bit "behind" the US regarding the Patriot Act. But that can be remedied.

If German's Minister of Interior, Otto Schily, could decide on his own, we would "progress" quicker towards 1984. And influential commentators like Hans Leyendecker (an "investigative reporter" with excellent connections to the intelligence agencies), writing for the liberal Sueddeutsche Zeitung, would compose a laudation.

Naturally only to protect Germany against terrorists.

...and those who dissent against an agenda. Bush* was talking to US when he proclaimed that if we weren't with him...then we were most certainly against him.

- Patriotic (Act II) will bring us ever closer to a special brand of American fascism...where the ruling class and their puppet leadership can label ANYONE an enemy of the state and never have to produce a morsel of evidence to support their charges.

the hypothesis might be not popular here, but... would he really revise the basic monstrosities of the Patriot Act?

a cheerleading squad for the USA PATRIOT Act. I have to wonder if the commission won't result in more harm than good.

:shrug:

We know that both Ashcroft and Rice committed perjury, but will anything ever come of that? I doubt it, but at least there is a record of it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/30/politics/30BUSH.html?hp

From the NYT article:


"The president and vice president were not sworn in, which is consistent with the past practice of the commission, which has generally required sworn testimony only when witnesses testify in public. The meeting was not recorded electronically, as a result of a decision made by the White House. The commission was allowed to bring along its staff director as a note taker."

The commission, swore in former President Clinton and VP Gore without protest when their testimony was given separately behind closed doors. Why didn't Bush and Cheney volunteer to be sworn in? The Clinton/Gore testimony was recorded electronically unconditionally. Unlike Bush and Cheney who refused to appear before the commission if any recording devices were used.

"In response to disclosures from the panel in recent weeks suggesting that the administration had been lax in dealing with the dire terrorist threats that reached the White House in 2001, Mr. Bush and his senior deputies have said they were aware of intelligence warnings but believed them to refer to threats overseas."

When the Bush Administration took over the White House in 1/00', Al Gore personally handed VP Cheney, The Hart-Rudman Commission Report on National Security. The 2yr. study is a comprehensive report outlining vulnerabilities in the security of the nation specifically targeting recommendations making stricter airport security a priority.

"Commission and administration officials said that during the session with the panel Mr. Bush repeated his assertion that the now famous Aug. 6, 2001, intelligence briefing about domestic terrorist threats was mostly historical and did not recommend that the White House step up security in the United States."

Then why has the Justice Dept. stifled and put a gag order on FBI Translater, Sibel Edmonds testimony that would clearly set a timeline of notice indicating the probability of a terrorist attack issued as an advance warning to the WH by the intelligence community?

"The commissioners were treated as outsiders by the White House. They were seen being searched by hand for weapons before they stepped into the Oval Office, a requirement for all visitors to the White House apart from many foreign leaders."

Strange indeed. Under normal circumstances, wouldn't the WH welcome the due diligence of a commission investigating the deaths of 3000 people? Why would they be considered outsiders? Why were they being searched for electronic equipment, I mean, weapons?

"Their notebooks were taken from them before they left the session, with the White House saying they would be returned after being reviewed for classified information."

So, even the notes recorded in the commissions notebooks could be redacted/sanitized under the guise of classified information, if after scrutiny by WH counsel thought to be in some way incriminating to Bush/Cheney.

"Mr. Bush had initially opposed creation of the panel, and his lawyers struggled for months last year to prevent the commission from getting access to highly classified Oval Office intelligence reports."

Months? Two and a half years is more like it.