Posted on 03/27/2004 3:26:23 PM PST by Texas Eagle
Kerry Slams White House Attack on Clarke 16 minutes ago
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - John Kerry (news - web sites) said Saturday the White House is committing character assassination with its treatment of former counterterror chief Richard Clarke to avoid responding to questions about national security.
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Kerry also said Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), President Bush (news - web sites)'s national security adviser, should testify in public before the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"If Condoleezza Rice can find time to do `60 Minutes' on television before the American people, she ought to find 60 minutes to speak to the commission under oath," Kerry told reporters. "We're talking about the security of our country."
The White House has said that presidential staff advisers, such as Rice, cannot testify publicly before congressional bodies. The bipartisan, independent commission was created in 2002 by congressional legislation and Bush's signature.
Rice has been interviewed privately by commission members.
Bush campaign spokeswoman Nicolle Devenish said Kerry and other Democrats are trying to politicize the work of the commission.
"John Kerry seeks to distract Americans from his own failed ideas for protecting America from future attacks," she said in a statement. "John Kerry's backward-looking approach would return us to the failed policies of treating terror as a law-enforcement matter."
Kerry said the constitutional separation of powers could be protected despite the White House's objections.
"Certainly we can find a way to respect executive privilege, not to have it be an opening to the door, but nevertheless to accomplish America's needs to protect the security of our country," he said.
On Clarke, Kerry said: "Every time somebody comes up and says something that this White House doesn't like, they don't answer the questions about it or show you the truth about it. They go into character assassination mode."
Besides Clarke, Kerry cited the examples of former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Medicare accountant Richard Foster.
"It is entirely inappropriate and almost hysterical of the White House to engage in this massive character assassination," Kerry said later in an interview with Kansas City television station KMBC.
O'Neill was fired as Treasury secretary in December 2002 after publicly questioning the need for additional tax cuts, a core campaign issue for Bush. Foster said he was prohibited by his superiors from sharing with Congress a much higher but more accurate cost estimate for the administration's Medicare program.
Kerry said until the commission completes its report, he will comment neither on Clarke's testimony nor on whether Bush did enough to protect Americans before the attacks. Kerry, who spent much of the past week on vacation in Idaho, said he had not heard or read any of the testimony before the commission.
He nevertheless criticized the administration for having "stonewalled" the investigation. Bush originally opposed the panel's creation, then opposed its request for a two-month extension of its work, but eventually relented on both counts.
Recalling the undisputed words of Richard Clarke in the past is "character assassination."
Wow. One of the very few things that Kerry can point to that shows he can get things done but for some reason he doesn't point this out.
The surgery was for the removal of two bullets, one from the Senator’s chest, and one from his left leg.
Stennis, who entered the Senate in 1947, is Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Police spokesman say the 71 year-old Mississippi Democrat was shot as he stepped from his car in front of his home.
American Forces Vietnam Network - AFVN, 1973 __________________________________________________
"Somebody told me the other day that the Secret Service has orders that if George Bush is shot, they're to shoot Quayle. There isn't any press here, is there?"
John Kerry, 1988
DrudgeReport
Thu Mar 25 2004 17:45:05 ET
One must have a character to assassinate for this to happen, and both Clarke and Kerry are wanting in that dept.
My money is on Condi.
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