Posted on 04/18/2004 4:06:46 AM PDT by Gothmog
From Sam Ervin to Earl Warren to Joseph McCarthy, high-powered investigative hearings in Washington have created heroes and villains, made and broken political careers, and rewritten history and biographies in unexpected ways. The Sept. 11 commission's hearings seem certain to take their place in that gallery.
In three months, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States will offer its report on the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But the verdict is coming in on the players in this drama in a city that thrives on anointing winners and losers, and on spotting the political implications behind even the most serious of events.
In Washington, devotees of the hearings — and there were many — saw jockeying among Democrats who might like a place in a John Kerry administration, White House aides seeking to protect their reputations at the expense of other aides, and Washington lions contemplating what the consultant James Carville has called "the comma" — the life-summarizing subordinate phrase that follows a name in an obituary.
"Walter Mondale was picked as vice president because Jimmy Carter was impressed with him on the Church commission," said Loch E. Johnson, a professor of political science at the University of Georgia who served on the staff of the commission, headed by Senator Frank Church of Idaho, that looked into abuses by the C.I.A. and the F.B.I.
Mr. Johnson said the players in this investigation were guided by iconoclastic moments from commission hearings past — think Howard Baker asking, "What did the president know and when did he know it?" With that in mind, here is a look at how they fared, in the view of Republicans and Democrats who followed the hearings.
JOHN ASHCROFT (AND JAMIE S. GORELICK) Mr. Ashcroft, the attorney general, was still recovering from gallbladder surgery when he testified. By the time he was finished, even some Republicans were saying he might have been better off staying at home, and some commission members suggested he may have damaged his relations with them.
Mr. Ashcroft went characteristically on the offensive, blaming the Clinton administration for many intelligence failures. He challenged the testimony of a former senior F.B.I. agent that he had been inattentive to warnings about a pending terrorist attack in 2001.
Then he produced a 1995 memorandum, declassified by the Justice Department in time for the hearings, outlining restrictions on sharing information between agents in criminal and intelligence investigations. He blamed the policy of building a "wall" for the failure of the C.I.A. and F.B.I. to share information that might have prevented the hijackings — and proceeded to point a finger.
"Full disclosure compels me to inform you that the author of this memorandum is a member of the commission," Mr. Ashcroft said. He did not name the member, but everyone on the panel knew he was talking about Ms. Gorelick, a Democrat who was the second-ranking official in the Clinton Justice Department.
The memorandum led some Republicans to call for her resignation, a demand that did not seem to go far. "Baloney," said John F. Lehman, a Republican on the panel, in response to the demand. But some Bush administration officials credited Mr. Ashcroft for mounting an aggressive and much-needed defense.
Mr. Ashcroft's challenge to Ms. Gorelick could prove a badge of honor for her should John Kerry win election, since she is on the list of people mentioned as a possible attorney general in a Kerry administration. One commission member said of Mr. Ashcroft's testimony, "The basic thrust was to put all the blame on Clinton, and he really made it very politicized." Ms. Gorelick, on the other hand, "came out looking really good," said Matt Bennett, a Democratic consultant.
BOB KERREY AND RICHARD BEN-VENISTE With his indignation, spirited questioning and energy so boundless that he mixed up the names of two star witnesses, Mr. Kerrey cut a memorable figure. Compared with Mr. Kerrey, Mr. Ben-Veniste was more prosecutorial, but both men stood out as tough questioners of White House officials, particularly Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser.
Mr. Ben-Veniste succeeded in goading Ms. Rice into one of the more memorable moments of the hearings by urging her to recite the name of the confidential briefing given to President Bush 36 days before the Sept. 11 attacks: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S."
But at times the Democratic duo might have been too tough. Republicans have invoked what they describe as the two men's belligerent, partisan demeanor to challenge the credibility of the commission. "Ben-Veniste was the most partisan," said former Representative Vin Weber, a Minnesota Republican.
Even some Democrats said they might have been over the top. "They were a little too combative, and it sort of came off as a nasty spat," Mr. Bennett said.
Mr. Kerrey and Mr. Ben-Veniste are also potential candidates for positions in a John Kerry admiration. And their prospects would presumably be helped if Mr. Kerry, should he win, attributes part of his victory to political damage done to Mr. Bush by those exchanges.
RICHARD A. CLARKE To say that opinion is divided on Mr. Clarke would be an understatement. To Democrats, he was the man who spotlighted deficiencies in the response to warnings about Sept. 11, and embarrassed the White House with his apology to the families of victims of the attacks. That was arguably the defining moment of the hearings.
Consequently, Mr. Clarke should probably forget about any future employment in Washington as long as Republicans are in power. "He looks like a greedy, self-aggrandizing, bitter, score-settling political person," said Richard N. Bond, a former Republican national chairman.
Reminded that Mr. Clarke had at the very least become the author of a best-selling book that has been sold to Hollywood, Mr. Bond responded: "So what? He cashed in his 15 minutes of fame."
CONDOLEEZZA RICE On paper, at least, Ms. Rice did not appear to do particularly well. After her exchange with Mr. Ben-Veniste about the name of the Aug. 6, 2001, presidential briefing, she went on to minimize its importance, describing it as little more than a "historical" document. As it turned out, the briefing included evidence from as recently as May of that year.
But that has seemed to be more of a problem for the White House than for Ms. Rice, who tesitified after weeks of resistance by the administration. Her cool, poised and very prepared presence — at one point she flustered Mr. Kerrey by approvingly quoting one of his speeches to make a point — had members of both parties expressing admiration.
"You don't get to be a national superstar by appearing before adoring audiences," Mr. Weber said. "You get to be a superstar by doing what she did, which is going before a tough group of potential critics."
THOMAS H. KEAN Mr. Kean, the Republican chairman of the commission, emerged as its steady and reassuring face, along with, to a lesser extent, Lee H. Hamilton, the Democratic vice chairman. Some Republicans complained privately that Mr. Kean had allowed Democratic members too much rope in going after Bush administration witnesses, but most officials praised him, at least for his work during the hearings, as a model commission chairman.
"Kean came out good," said Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois. "Lee Hamilton came out good. Honest, levelheaded. They are not doing it for the show. Dragnet. Just the facts."
ROBERT S. MUELLER III If there was an unexpected winner in the hearings, it was Mr. Mueller, the director of the F.B.I., who somehow managed to thrive even as his agency suffered one of the toughest public thrashings in its history. Several commission members said they had begun their work convinced that the F.B.I. was no longer up to the task of domestic counterterrorism, and that a separate agency for domestic intelligence might be needed. By the time Mr. Mueller was done, many members said they were not so certain.
Mr. Mueller, who took over the F.B.I. just a week before the attacks, "was very persuasive and very energetic and very capable," Mr. Ben-Veniste said. "He's obviously very motivated to try to keep the intelligence mission within the F.B.I."
Yeah, right, Ashcroft was one of the best performers. He made Reno look even more like a blabbering fool.
Their reporting is so far removed from the facts that as usual the paper is irrelevant. Seems that Jayson Blair lives!
Eric "LickBillsBalls" Lichtblau, take a bow.
The title would be more correct if it read: "Whiners and loosers"
Another reason we MUST re-elect GWB this fall. The thought of these people back in charge makes my skin crawl!
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