Posted on 05/21/2002 9:21:21 AM PDT by kattracks
Sen. John McCain, R-Az., defended the Bush White House Tuesday morning against criticism from his colleague Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who insinuated last week that President Bush may have had enough evidence in advance to prevent the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Asked what he thought of Clinton's outburst, where she invoked last Thursday's New York Post headline "Bush Knew" and demanded, "The president knew what?" - McCain told radioman Don Imus that her comments were neither "necessary nor appropriate."
The exchange went like this:
IMUS: I know most of the time you all in the Senate and Congress are reluctant to attack one another or even to be sometimes critical. However, having said that, what did you make of the disgraceful performance of Hillary Clinton waving around a headline of the New York Post that even people like Dick Gephardt agreed might have been going too far?
MCCAIN: I don't think it was necessary or appropriate. And I don't think it's going to help her at all. (End of excerpt)
Earlier in the interview, McCain said he backed an independent commission to probe 9-11 intelligence failures that would cover the Clinton administration.
"Why don't we investigate and appoint smart and intelligent people to look at all of the events that led up to Sept. 11," he told Imus.
"Not just whether there was a memo or not that was not seen..... but, what are the events. What happened in Afghanistan that caused us to turn our backs on that country. That covers three administrations, by the way - Bush I, Clinton and the present administration."
However minutes earlier, NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert defended Mrs. Clinton's 9-11 attack on the same show.
IMUS: What was your (father's) observation on Hillary Clinton's behavior, standing there waving the New York Post around with that bogus headline that almost everybody agreed - even now Dick Gephardt? Well, Dick Gephardt saw the polls and decided maybe he ought to lighten up a little bit.
RUSSERT: Well, I didn't talk to him specifically about her.
IMUS: What's your reaction?
RUSSERT: The fact is, Sen. Specter, Sen. Shelby - there are a lot of Republicans who are also saying, "We have to ask serious questions....."
IMUS: Yeah, but they weren't doing that, what she did.
RUSSERT: ".....What happened and why?" There's nothing wrong with that. I just don't think you should be impugning people's motives and suggesting that there was advanced knowledge and people didn't act on it. (End of excerpt)
But Dick Morris, the man who got Hillary's husband elected to a second term, told nationally syndicated radio talker Sean Hannity on Monday that the New York Senator blundered big time.
HANNITY: We see Dick Gephardt and others this weekend backing off (from their criticism of Bush).
MORRIS: Yeah, well, it's too late. They absolutely led with their mouths, particularly Hillary Clinton. And that was just incredible that she led with her mouth on this.
You know, every once in a while she breaks through her muzzle and her handlers. And boy, then it's a disaster. You can see just how rotten her political instincts are; the same instincts that she showed during health care reform.
And she's been muzzled and handled and finessed. But every once in a while she's loose and then watch out. (End of Excerpt)
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Bush Administration
Clinton Scandals
Sen. Hillary Clinton
War on Terrorism
He has been angling to get back into a power position ever since he left. I think that's his chief motivation--to have someone take him on again as chief White House adviser. He keeps giving the Republicans advice, hoping they will admire his genius and take him back. It's not likely.
Russert conducted an interogation or inquisition of Dick Cheney - not a question and answer news show. He showed little to no respect for Cheney as V.P. of the U.S.A.
Never once did he accept Cheneys point as valid or an acceptable answer - he just bored in with the next question.
The beauty of the whole thing is that he never bested Cheney. Dick never got flustered, never got thrown off stride.
Tims pretty bright - Cheney out thought and out talked him. Tim found out what it was to deal with an adult - Dick Cheney is "da man"!! Tim is still, as Hugh Hewitt calls him, "the Cuomo aid".
Because we won this round - Cheney left Russert a quivering hulk. Cheney's performance on this show is probably the primary reason that the Demos are backing off their attack and Gebhardt said that "they were a bit over the top" or some such mea-culpa.
See post above #15 above -(not mine). And I made another but can't find it - it made similar points.
I caught that part of the program too - it was a beautiful thing. I have no respect for Matthews either - but sometimes he displays depthy smarts and political savy - this little closing bit on last nights show proves he knows when hes' (and his friends) have taken a bullet...to the heart.
Someone on this forum used to post that picture of her with a picture of Il Duce next to it, in the same pose, which I thought quite appropriate.
... but both she and her hubby are greatly admired by the majority of women voters, as has been shown in poll after poll. Since the common trait of these two is a desire to dominate little minded people, does that mean most women are not too smart, at least politically? I think that is exactly the case!
No doubt she's the only one with those in that family (if you want to call it a family.)
I've been wondering the same about you since you STILL do not see the light regarding McCain.
There are not many issues that these two disagree on.
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