A few days ago, Bob Woodward said he’s heard the talk about Bush and Cheney insisting on appearing together before the 9/11 Commission, but he didn’t think it would happen.
“I’ll bet they won’t go together. I think they’ll realize that this reinforces a notion. It’s going to be private, top-secret testimony. And, you know, when I interviewed Bush for hours, Cheney wasn’t there. You know, he can deal with it.”
It turns out Woodward has more faith in Bush than Bush does. The joint Bush-Cheney appearance will happen tomorrow, as planned.
The White House really wants the public to believe that Bush, far from being Cheney’s ventriloquist dummy, will be in total control.
President Bush plans to do most of the talking when he and Vice President Dick Cheney meet behind closed doors Thursday with the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, White House officials said Tuesday.
I realize the point of such talk — reinforcing the questionable notion that Bush is capable of actually talking to Commission members without Cheney’s help — but there’s still plenty of reason for skepticism.
First, the White House still hasn’t come up with a persuasive spin to justify the joint appearance.
At a contentious news briefing Tuesday, McClellan rejected suggestions that by appearing together, Bush and Cheney would be exposing themselves to criticism and even ridicule.
“That’s not the way you should be looking at this,” McClellan said. “This is about helping the commission piece together all the information they have already been provided access to, and helping them complete their important work.”
These guys have had weeks to think of some reasonable explanation and all they’ve come up with is that Bush and Cheney want to “help” the Commission complete their work. Please. The Commission wants to talk to each separately and there’s no reason a joint appearance will help anyone but Bush.
Second, Bush and Cheney refuse to have their discussion taped and/or transcribed.
The administration also said there would not be a complete record of Bush’s and Cheney’s remarks because the White House had requested that no stenographer be present during the closed-door session.
Commission members will be able to take notes, but unlike Clinton’s and Gore’s discussions with the panel, there will be no official record of what Bush and Cheney actually said. I realize that some of their answers will include confidential information, but even Commission members, who have clearance, will not be able to rely on a transcript of the president’s and vice president’s remarks.
Third, Bush and Cheney won’t be under oath.
Before I go, consider one last quote from yesterday’s press briefing with Scott McClellan.
Despite some sharp exchanges between commission members and other witnesses at earlier sessions, McClellan said, “You should not look at this as an adversarial process. We are all working toward the same objective here.”
Really? The White House doesn’t want anyone to think of this as an “adversarial process”? Is this some kind of joke?
This is the same White House, after all, that opposed creating the Commission in the first place. Bush now wants us to believe he’s helping the Commission “work toward the same objective,” but let’s not forget that Bush initially insisted he would only give the Commission one hour of his time, opposed extending the Commission’s deadline, refused to allow Condi Rice to testify, said he would only talk to the panel’s chair and co-chair instead of the full Commission, refused to share Rice’s never-delivered speech from 9/11, and withheld thousands of Clinton-era counterterrorism documents.
But, don’t worry, it’s not an “adversarial process.” Whatever gave us that idea?