Posted on 07/15/2003 4:40:59 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
In the course of just-completed interviews on The Today Show, Katie Couric wondered aloud whether, with respect to the justification for the war with Iraq, President Bush engaged in "a pattern of deception."
Couric's guests were Senators Ted Kennedy and Republican Richard Shelby.
Couric began with Kennedy, and started by lobbing him the softest of softballs: "We've seen a firestorm erupt. What is the most upsetting thing?"
When Kennedy wandered too much into suggestions that NATO and other troops share part of the burden in Iraq, Katie yanked him bank to where she wanted to go - an attack on President Bush. Thus she stated: "Let's get back to charges that Bush administration manipulated intelligence."
Kennedy obligingly stated that "the buck stops in White House. The administration trying to pin the blame on CIA head George Tenet. The President's credibility is at stake. There should be open congressional hearings."
In fairness, it should be reported that Couric concluded the interview with Kennedy by asking: "How do you get to bottom of the issue without politicizing it too much? Dem presidential contenders are obviously seizing on it."
Of course her pious words were belied by the thrust of her interviews, particularly when she turned to Republican Shelby. Gone were the softballs, replaced by high-hard ones under the chin.
Couric: "The basic question is why Pres. Bush included in the State of the Union the statement about Saddam seeking nuclear materials in Africa when Tenet told him not to include it in an earlier speech and Colin Powell was also uncomfortable with it?"
Shelby responded: "I believe however that Pres. Bush's policy on Iraq is sound, but the CIA didn't serve President well in this instance."
Couric literally couldn't contain herself, and interrupted him, shouting "But the CIA told him in October not to keep it in! Is it the CIA's or the White House's fault?"
Couric then employed one of her favorite techniques: quoting the liberal press to make a point she wouldn't dare make in her own name. Thus she quoted that bastion of objectivity and high journalistic standards, the NY Times editorial page, to this effect:
"'The British made us do it' defense would be more credible if British intelligence had a better track record for accuracy. In fact, the British relied on unverified internet reports."
Once again, Shelby retorted that the policy of Bush administration was sound, but that it was not well-served by the CIA.
Finally, referring to the controversy surrounding Pres. Bush's allegation that Saddam had obtained aluminum tubes for purposes of his nuclear program, Katie dropped this bombshell: "Could the Bush administration be seen to be engaging in a pattern of deception?"
She'd like it. Like it rough and mew like a sheep.
I'm sure she always wanted Bill OR Hillary to feel her. Rich people like Katie seem to be attracted to the Newyarkansas trailer trash.
Could you just imagine Couric looking solemnly into the camera and telling her sucker-mom morning audience that "President Clinton engaged in a pattern of deception"?
When pigs and Teddy Kennedy fly.
I'll give her the benefit of the doubt on that. We were saving the French, after all ;-)
Get ready for this phrase to be repeated by the Democrats; I already saw it quoted by (Little) Dick Gephart; must be in the latest edition of Democratic Talking Points.
Apparently "pattern of deception" is a new Dem talking point.
From The Wall St. Journal's Best of the Web Today:
Do We Detect a Pattern Here?"Several candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination spoke out yesterday. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) said Bush's 'factual lapse' cannot be easily dismissed 'as an intelligence failure.' He said the president 'has a pattern of using excessive language in his speeches and off-the-cuff remarks' which 'represents a failure of presidential leadership.' "--Associated Press
"Amid questions about the president's justification for war against Iraq, [John Kerry] the Massachusetts senator [who by the way served in jail] plans to question Bush's credibility next week by citing a pattern of deception on national security and domestic issues, aides said."--Associated Press
"What troubles me is not that single episode, but the broader pattern of dishonesty and delusion that helped get us into the Iraq mess."--Nicholas Kristof, New York Times
"The case of the bogus uranium purchases wasn't an isolated instance. It was part of a broad pattern of politicized, corrupted intelligence."--former Enron adviser Paul Krugman, New York Times
"I think the American people are aware this administration has engaged in a pattern of deceit."--Dennis Kucinich
-PJ
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