Things I’ve Seen

From Nasi Lamak, via Calpundit (Sorry, that’s “Political Animal”. Hang on, it’s “Kevin Drum”. Oh, whatever he calls himself now.), who got it from Crooked Timber (am I giving fair credit, or abusing trackback? - I link, you decide) comes this ten poll running average of Bush approval ratings

Two observations really stand out - firstly, that there is a consistent downwards trend, and secondly, that each ‘bounce’ is smaller and shorter than the one before.

This graph places GWB’s approval solidly south of 50, which has got to be good for Kerry. Tomorrow, I’ll post the latest poll-of-polls between Kerry and Bush…

btw, I just love Crooked Timber’s test for statistical significance:

One of the better indicators of statistical significance is the so-called ‘interocular trauma test.’ It’s only satisfied when you have results that are so glaringly obvious that they hit you between the eyes.

Alistair Cooke (1908-2004)

Alistair Cooke, who has died at his home in New York City aged 95, always considered himself, above all else, a reporter. He plied his trade for 25 years on the pages of this newspaper, and for more than half a century on behalf of the BBC. His Letter From America broke all broadcasting records, reaching its 2,869th edition on February 20 when Cooke, who had vowed never to retire, was advised by his doctors to pack up his typewriter.

I have just had a Mike Higton moment.

I have had to spend the last 10 minutes printing out 3 forms, in order that I might write my name at the top, cross out the content, scribble N/A in large friendly letters across it, sign it, date it and lodge it with the finance department.

As most Australians would know, its the end of FBT (Fringe Benefits Tax) year today. Australia’s premier research and technology organisation, which employes over 6000 people, has decided in its wisdom that all its employees need to fill in a return, regardless of whether they receive fringe benefits with their package or not!

So I have duly declared that I do not have a company funded car, do not have home computing equipment provided to me by my employer (laptops don’t count), and that my spouse does not get an allowance to travel with me on business!

Now I shall rest in the knowledge of my duty done, and wait for the howls from the myriad sterling scientists in this organisation who put 20c in the jar when they take a tea bag.

Josh Marshall wonders why Bush and Cheney are to appear together in front of the 9-11 commission.

Why is this is a joint session? Why can’t the president and the vice-president meet with the Commission members separately? …

One can speculate about several reasons — one in particular — for making this stipulation. And, in addition to having no conceivable constitutional basis, none of them are flattering.

Whatever could Josh be suggesting?

It seems that both Atrios and Kos are to be regular guests on the new Air America. Both are being amusingly humble about their step from the blogosphere into mainstream media:

[Atrios] I just had a bit of fun participating in a rehearsal for Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder’s new show on Air America.

If all goes according to plan, I’ll be on their premier show on Wednesday night.

Don’t worry, they’ll have some A-list guests, too.

[Kos] And like Atrios, I will have a regular role on Janeane Garofalo’s and Sam Seder’s show on Air America. I “auditioned” last night, and apparently passed the test (whatever that might’ve been).

The show launches tomorrow (with the rest of the network), and apparently clips of my “audition” will make the air sometime in the next week or so. My question: does anyone listen to the radio between 8-11 p.m.? That’s when Garafalo’s show is on.

Air America launches today, and promises streaming audio for those not in range. But right now, their website sucks :(.

I was just reflecting on the by now well known story told by GWB about his memories of September 11th. As recorded on the Whitehouse press release,

I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower — the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly, myself, and I said, well, there’s one terrible pilot. I said, it must have been a horrible accident. … Andy Card, my Chief of Staff, who is sitting over here, walked in and said, “A second plane has hit the tower, America is under attack.”

Now, it’s a well known fact that the first airplane hitting the world trade center was not shown live on television, so this story clearly cannot be true as told. Many people choose to think of this a another example of GWB lying, but I’d like to be a bit more generous…
Read the rest of this entry »

So, in one of the fastest flip-flops of the campaign, Rice is now going to testify, in public, under oath. Good. Here are some briefing materials for the panel. Just to pick two of the many misleading statements Rice has made over the psat couple of weeks:

CLAIM: “The fact of the matter is [that] the administration focused on this before 9/11.” - National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 3/22/04
FACT: President Bush and Vice President Cheney’s counterterrorism task force, which was created in May, never convened one single meeting. The President himself admitted that “I didn’t feel the sense of urgency” about terrorism before 9/11. [Source: Washington Post, 1/20/02; Bob Woodward’s “Bush at War”]

CLAIM: “No al Qaeda plan was turned over to the new administration.” - National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 3/22/04
FACT: “On January 25th, 2001, Clarke forwarded his December 2000 strategy paper and a copy of his 1998 Delenda plan to the new national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.” - 9/11 Commission staff report, 3/24/04

According to this story from MSNBC only parts of Clarke’s testimony to the 9-11 commission will be released; parts carefully selected to point out contradictions.

U.S. officials told NBC News that the full record of Clarke’s testimony two years ago would not be declassified. They said that at the request of the White House, however, the CIA was going through the transcript to see what could be declassified, with an eye toward pointing out contradictions.

I think we all know that this is the sort of thing that happens in politics, but aren’t they supposed to at least pretend that the CIA aren’t being used for partisan ends?

Clarke doesn’t seem to think that there is any need to hide any of the testimony - indeed, he gives a rather different picture of why the administration might want some things to remain classified:

“Let’s declassify all of it,” Clarke said, echoing calls by Democrats familiar with his 2002 testimony, who dismissed the Republican demands as political posturing and said there was no substantive conflict. He said the full record would only prove that the Bush administration neglected the threat of terrorism in the nine months leading up to the attacks, which killed about 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

You know, I would hate to play poker against this guy.

In the CSMonitor?

Why someone would want to testify specifically not under oath is anyone’s guess, of course.

The opening two paragraphs in this news story from Yahoo!

Richard Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism chief under attack by the Bush administration over his criticism of its actions before Sept. 11, said Sunday that all his private testimony and e-mail exchanges with his former boss should be made public.

At the same time, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Clarke’s former supervisor, said again Sunday that she will not testify in public before the commission investigating the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Frist insinuated in the Senate, and therefore under Senate protection from charge of slander, that Clarke was lying, and that making his private testimony public would show this. Clarke’s response - “go ahead, make it all public, I have nothing to hide.”.

Clarke stated, under oath, that Rice had not been truthful in her public statements, and others have called on her to give testimony in public, under oath. Rice’s response - “go away, I’m not going to make public statements under oath”.

Which of these two seems more credible to you?