Yeah, if they'd have done their job in a responsible manner. They could, for instance, have refused to let Clarke use a public appearance before the Commission as part of his author's publicity tour. Instead Commission members disgustingly held up copies of his book!
Sad as the whole spectacle is, there is also a satisfying sense of justice wrt the outcome so far. Every hit the Commission has taken to it's credibility stems from the Commissions members' own irresponsible decisions and behavior.
By God, Ashcroft hit them HARD! Two major bombshells: the Gorelick memo, and the revelation that Richard Clarke had never informed the Bush administration about the after action assessments of the millennium plot, nor passed along his report. And that followed Janet Reno's refusal (despite desperate prodding) to attribute the exposure of the millennium plot to the Clinton admin and Richard Clarke "pulsing" the intelligence agencies, instead confirming Condi's assertion that it was only due to an alert border guard (who, however, was not on formal alert).
Once again the 'Rats have overreached, and paid for it. The facade of their "blame Bush" edifice began cracking almost immediately after it was proudly unveiled with Clarke's appearance on 60 Minutes, and now Ashcroft has kicked the scaffolding into a pile of matchsticks. AND, in the process, the finger of blame the 'Rats attempted to point at Bush is turning back on Clinton. AND, in order to execute their failed scheme, the 'Rats had to effectively abandon or mute their opposition to the Patriot Act, preemption and other tough measures. AND, in order to claim that Bush should have acted sooner and more forcefully, they have had to implicitly concede that the things he did after 911 were justified and fundamentally right. (Of course they still don't include Iraq, but their retreat on other issues makes their opposition there appear more opportunistic and inconsistent.)
It would have been better for the country if the 'Rats had behaved responsibly and not attempted to politicize the WOT, 911, and the Commission. But given that they did it's working out quite satisfactorily on the whole.
The 'Rats are basically shoveling shit in a wind-tunnel. They're trying to cover Bush in it, but it's all blowing back on them. Still, they don't know how to do anything else.
'Rats have been addicted to scandal for thirty years. In 1974, in the wake of Watergate, they had one of their most successful congressional campaigns (including a huge influx of extreme left ideologues), and this only two years after their presidential candidate had received an unequivocal electoral drubbing. They've depended on manufacturing "-gates" ever since. They've moved so far out of the ideological mainstream that they can't win majorities any other way.
Ashcroft hit them HARD! Two major bombshells: the Gorelick memo, and the revelation that Richard Clarke had never informed the Bush administration about the after action assessments of the millennium plot, nor passed along his report. And that followed Janet Reno's refusal (despite desperate prodding) to attribute the exposure of the millennium plot to the Clinton admin and Richard Clarke "pulsing" the intelligence agencies, instead confirming Condi's assertion that it was only due to an alert border guardYes, that day of testimony had some punch in it! Most of all I think the Gorelick directive was a torpedo amidships; the ship is taking on water and starting to list. The more we learn about her the more absurd her absence from the witness chair becomes. By the time it's over I think the question will be why she's not in an orange jump suit, if the politicization of the FBI investigations of OKC, TWA800, and Richard Jewel can be proven.
Richard Clarke not telling Bush about the 6-year-old Islamacist kamakazee idea just about zeroes out his claim that Bush should have figured out anything - and of course Reno let the air out of the life preserver when she confirmed that the agents in the field never got the word that they should be on alert for the milennium bomb plotter. Clarke is a real joke - people will be suing for a refund on his book before it's over. They should be suing the Democrat comissioners for false advertising of it!
Do you think Fox News Channel will be picking up more market share? People are bound to catch a clue that "the news that's fit to print" isn't all in the The NY Times.