'Cynical' questions irk White House

Washington Times ^ | 6/13/02 | Dave Boyer and Bill Gertz

[kattracks]

The White House yesterday angrily denied suggestions that the administration revealed the capture of a "dirty bomb" suspect to deflect criticism of federal law enforcement.

"These very few people who want to make such outlandish political accusations represent the most cynical among the most partisan, and they're not to be taken seriously," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

[DoughtyOne]

[Grut]

"These very few people who want to make such outlandish political accusations represent the most cynical among the most partisan, and they're not to be taken seriously"

Wow! Sounds just like the Clinton White House talking about the Right. You can't say 'guilty as charged' any clearer.

[RJCogburn]

Well, sure, it seems like there were political motivations with the timing of the information about this guy. Had this been done under the Clintons there would be no question. We are talking about politicians here, after all. I don't blame Bush and Co. here, so long as the information is correct.

[livius]

It's a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't. The Dems are desperate and will try to make an issue out of anything.

Do they seriously think that a major arrest that was part of an ongoing investigation into a secretive and highly dangerous network should have been immediately announced to the press? Get real. They can afford to make these ridiculous charges because they're not the ones responsible for protecting American citizens.

Well, actually, I take that back. This is theoretically also part of the responsibilities of our elected reps, which is the reason they get security briefings,too. And we can see how much good that did.

[Elkiejg]

there can be an advantage in not allowing the people who sent him here to have the information that he's been detained, to see if we can't find anything else out about whatever it is they may be planning."

This is the key - the press and RATS can't keep their mouths shut - so any sane person WOULD NOT release IMPORTANT information to them. DUH!!

[RJCogburn]

Do they seriously think that a major arrest that was part of an ongoing investigation into a secretive and highly dangerous network should have been immediately announced to the press?

No. The release of this information was well timed for political gain, though. But that's okay in this instance.

[Miss Marple]

I believe that Sunday was the deadline for either moving Padilla to DOD control or charging him in the civilian courts. In my opinion the announcement was made to avoid the charge that they were keeping things secret, since if he was transferred to the DOD and the news was leaked later, which it would have no doubt been, then there would have been a flap about that.

I also think maybe there is something else going on and this flap was a nice distraction for the press. Otherwise, why would Ashcroft make an announcement from Moscow?

One thing I have learned is to wait and see. It could have been political, but then why didn't they leak this last week when Rowley was testifying?

[mystery-ak]

I think you are correct....that was my first reaction, they could have released this during/after Rowely's (sp) appearance in DC....there is more to this story, but frankly I think they are making too much of it.....but hey, the press wants a story, and by G-d they will have a story.

[section9]

Wow! Sounds just like the Clinton White House talking about the Right. You can't say 'guilty as charged' any clearer.

Save for the fact that the Bush White House is actually correct in its assessment of the Democrat's motives.

Daschle has been looking for several months for something to hang on Bush's head. He's failed in every attempt, and even after the month of "scandal", Bush still stands at a 77% approval rating.

I actually strongly suspect that other stuff is afoot under the table, and that our friend Padilla was part of something much wider and much more immediate.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[self_evident]

The Dems are desperate and will try to make an issue out of anything.

It's mind-boggling. A man travels to Pakistan to meet with terrorists and comes back with 10K in cash. Yet they still can't say the obvious -- that it was a good job of investigative work.

Bush can do next to nothing for rest of his term about terrorism and the Dem's will STILL say that he is doing to much. They are completely out of touch with the public and seem convinced that the tide will turn "any day now" to something similar to the Vietnam-era anti-security nonsense.

[RJCogburn]

One thing I have learned is to wait and see. It could have been political

I'm not being critical, just realistic...but perhaps you are correct.

[steve-b]

'Cynical' questions irk White House

Why are you posting an old new story about Clowntoon blowing up an aspirin factory.... er, nevermind....

[AndyJackson]

You would think they just got off the bus for a toilet stop and found that they were left behind, clueless in some big city somewhere or other. Of course the timing was political. What do they think goes on in Washington for crissake? So long as the Dems are mouthing off about the TIMING of press releases they are doing nothing useful whatsoever.

[self_evident]

I believe that Sunday was the deadline for either moving Padilla to DOD control or charging him in the civilian courts. In my opinion the announcement was made to avoid the charge that they were keeping things secret, since if he was transferred to the DOD and the news was leaked later, which it would have no doubt been, then there would have been a flap about that.

I've read about 5 articles on this subject and hadn't seen this. Amazingly straight-forward reason for the timing.

I can't really verbalize my disgust at the Dem's on their inability to defend the US. It HAS to make Bush more cautious. I want Bush to pursue the terrorist much more vigourously, but there is virtually no political pressure for him to do so.

[Alas Babylon!]

Yes, it seemed like the press could not do enough then to make a huge splash about the cruise missile attack then. Of course, that was done on the very day Monica Lewinsky testified before the grand jury. But the press saw nothing cynical about that, naturally. Bias at work, every day. Big media is the mouthpiece of the DemocRatic National Committee.

[Alas Babylon!]

Oh, and let's not forget the air attack on Iraq during Ramadan, while congress was impeaching Clintoon. Nothing political to see here folks, please move along. Clintoon got away with it because the press LET HIM!

[ODDITHER]

I love it when a plan comes together. To see the left, who became masters of timing when it presented or didn't present information so angry that the Bush administration had the audacity to use timing and PR to let the public know about an arrest, warms my heart.(remember the pretty in pink press conference and all of the late Friday afternoon when most journalists were long gone announcements?)

Even if the Demolition Party members were correct and the administration "timed" the announcement for their benefit, so what????? Just shows that they have mastered the art of political persuasion through PR and timing. It further shows how effective it was, because of how angry it made those poor little leftist idiots.

I personally feel that this administration, read David Horowitz's book, but would never do anything to put America in harms way just to further their administration.

To me, it looks fishy as to the timing of the Democrats response to the administration's announcment. They are so used to the corrupt CLinton administration and his tactics that they can't believe there are actually people with integrity in office. In fact they don't know the meaning of integrity.

[palmer]

The fact of the matter, again, is a very dangerous man has been taken off of the streets of the United States where he will no longer be in a position to do harm to our citizenry

Millions of illegal aliens on our streets, INS churning out visas for dead terrorists, administration stonewalling immigration reform. This illegal detention is a trivial distraction from a real crisis. This guy will eventually be set free with his $10K confiscated, but meanwhile we will slowly lose the war.

[Lee'sGhost]

I think W's response should be something like this: Why shouldn't we be pointing out the successes of our intelligence community? These are the people who strive to protect us on a day to day basis. They are the front line of defense against terrorism. I, for one, support them and believe in them, and will not allow past shortcomings -- programed for failure by past polices -- stand in the way of reinstituting our faith in their efforts. It's important that they hear this message above the background noise of media hysteria and that the people of the US hear this message as well.