Posted on 12/07/2003 6:11:20 AM PST by billorites
Reaction to Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean’s reference to an allegation that President George W. Bush had advance warning of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks ranged from caustic to cool.
While Washington Post commentator Charles Krauthammer questioned Dean’s sanity — in a column that also noted the apparently widespread indifference to his remarks — Dean and his competitors in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination were silent.
The comment by the former Vermont governor came during a broadcast last Monday of the Diane Rehm Show on National Public Radio.
Rehm asked: “Why do you think he (President Bush) is suppressing that (Sept. 11) report?”
Dean replied: “I don’t know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I’ve heard so far — which is nothing more than a theory, it can’t be proved — is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is?”
In a column published in The Washington Post on Friday, Krauthammer wrote: “I cannot testify to Howard Dean’s sanity before this campaign, but five terms as governor by a man with no visible tics and no history of involuntary confinement is pretty good evidence of a normal mental status.
“When he avers, however, that ‘the most interesting’ theory as to why the President is ‘suppressing’ the Sept. 11 report is that Bush knew about Sept. 11 in advance, it’s time to check on thorazine supplies.
“When Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., first broached this idea before the 2002 primary election, it was considered so nutty it helped make her former representative McKinney,” Krauthammer wrote. “Today the Democratic Presidential front-runner professes agnosticism as to whether the President of the United States was tipped off about 9/11 by the Saudis and it goes unnoticed.”
In New Hampshire, a Republican Party spokesman described Dean’s comment as reckless, while a Democrat attached no significance to it.
“It’s an absolutely reckless and irresponsible statement,” said Julie Teer, the communications director for the Republican State Committee.
“Sadly, it’s typical of candidate Howard Dean to make charges that he has no proof of or reason to think is true. He says those things simple because he represents the vehement Bush haters that make up a tiny sliver of the electorate. Most Americans are turned off when they hear comments like that.”
In contrast, Kathy Sullivan, New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman, said, “It doesn’t sound like really that much to talk about. He said this was ‘one of the theories.’ He didn’t say it was a good theory, or a legitimate theory or that the theory had any credence to it.”
Requests for comment on Dean’s remarks on the theory that President Bush had advance warning of the 9/11 airliner hijackings were placed with the campaign spokesmen for Democratic Presidential candidates Wesley Clark, John Edwards, Richard Gephardt, John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich and Joseph Lieberman.
None was forthcoming yesterday, nor did Dean’s campaign staff respond to a request for elaboration.
“We’re not going to have any further elaboration,” Dorie Clark, Dean’s communications director in New Hampshire, said last night.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.