Friday, March 26, 2004
Why should we believe Bush when he says "I didn't know"?
Aren't CEO Presidents supposed to know?
Nice to see Bush has managed to divide the 9/11 families too. And who said the subjunctive was dead?
But to the "substance" of Bush's remarks:
1. Bush says he didn't know. But he says a lot of things. Condi said she didn't know. Now (back) she says she did.
So, did she not tell her boss, in which case we should fire her, or did she tell her boss, in which case Bush is lying?
2. When Condi admitted that she did know, she said she had "received information" that terrorists would use airplanes as missiles. How? Through the PDBs? Did she write on the PDB? And then did Bush write on the PDB? And does that explain why they won't let anybody see the original PDBs? (back)
3. As usual Bush sets the bar for himself absurdly low. Let's grant that he's telling the truth, and that he didn't know. Well, it took eight months for him to meet with his own counter-terrorism advisor, who was trying to put a system in place that would have let him know!
4. And [thanks to alert reader a] will he know the next time?
"Had I known that the enemy was going to use airplanes to strike America, to attack us, I would have used every resource, every asset, every power of the government, to protect the American people," Bush said, appearing with Cheryl McGinnis, the wife of a pilot killed in the attacks.
(via the Boston Glob, Reuters)
Nice to see Bush has managed to divide the 9/11 families too. And who said the subjunctive was dead?
But to the "substance" of Bush's remarks:
1. Bush says he didn't know. But he says a lot of things. Condi said she didn't know. Now (back) she says she did.
So, did she not tell her boss, in which case we should fire her, or did she tell her boss, in which case Bush is lying?
2. When Condi admitted that she did know, she said she had "received information" that terrorists would use airplanes as missiles. How? Through the PDBs? Did she write on the PDB? And then did Bush write on the PDB? And does that explain why they won't let anybody see the original PDBs? (back)
3. As usual Bush sets the bar for himself absurdly low. Let's grant that he's telling the truth, and that he didn't know. Well, it took eight months for him to meet with his own counter-terrorism advisor, who was trying to put a system in place that would have let him know!
4. And [thanks to alert reader a] will he know the next time?
