I Read The News Today, Oh Boy

Condoleeza Rice ignored warnings delievered by members of her own government and by former staffers of the outgoing Clinton administration concerning Al Qaeda’s intent to strike in the U.S. months before 9/11. This is news? Today the State Department confirmed, though Dr. Rice has no recall of the fact, that CIA Director George Tenet briefed her as National Security Advisor on the Al Qaeda threat in a meeting on July 10, 2001.

She also ignored warnings and eschewed consideration of Clinton administration-produced plans for confronting the Al Qaeda threat in meetings with the outgoing National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger, and her own counterterroism chief, Richard Clarke, as early as February 2001, but that news is three years old now.

In denying recall of the July meeting with Mr. Tenet today, Dr. Rice noted she had met with him repeatedly that summer concerning terrorist threats.

This is beginning to get Watergate-esque. “I don’t recall,” indeed.

Comments

  1. Tam O’Tellico - October 23, 2006 @ 10:55 am

    As for Bush”s M.Q. (monkey quotient), no one has said it better than the man himself:

    “People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history. If a person doesn’t have the capacity that we all want that person to have, I suspect hope is in the far distant future, if at all.”

  2. lonbud - October 25, 2006 @ 6:14 pm

    I’d say that falls under the theorem of the blnd squirrel, actually.

  3. Larry - October 26, 2006 @ 5:00 pm

    “Number written by George W. Bush: 0”

    False. Try, at least one.

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author-exact=George%20W.%20Bush&rank=-relevance%2C%2Bavailability%2C-daterank/104-9769939-7318320

    I’m sure you can all understand that the Lovenstein study, like the report published this week in the Lancet purporting to place the “extra” number of Iraqi deaths since 2003 at somewhere between 400,000 and 900,000, can — and will — be rejected out of hand by many people as absurd on its face.

    Yeah, you and bubbles are true geniuses. (Lancet has already been debunked)

    Lovenstein is a hoax.

    http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/lovenstein.html

    http://newsbusters.org/node/6575

    http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/presiq.htm

    Claim: According to a study by the Lovenstein Institute, President Bush has the lowest IQ of all presidents of past 50 years.

    Status: False.

    Origins: No, this isn’t a real news report, nor does it describe a real study. There isn’t a “Lovenstein Institute” in Scranton, Pennsylvania (or anywhere else in the USA), nor do any of the people quoted in the story exist, because this is just another spoof that was taken too seriously.

    The article quoted above began circulating on the Internet during the summer of 2001. In furtherance of the hoax, later that year pranksters thought to register http://www.lovenstein.org and erect a web site around it in an attempt to fool people into thinking there really was such an institute.

    -snip

    Speaking of IQ’s, an ACTUAL study shows that Bush’s IQ is higher than John Kerry’s:

    http://www.vdare.com/Sailer/kerry_iq_lower.htm

    http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/politics/campaign/24points.html?ex=1256356800&en=50a1bcbb16e7cf21&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland

  4. lonbud - October 26, 2006 @ 5:42 pm

    Thanks, Larry. I know I’ll sleep better tonight, safe in the knowledge we’ve got an author with a probable IQ in the 120s at the helm.

    Sail on, sailors!

  5. Tam O’Tellico - October 26, 2006 @ 10:03 pm

    Well, as someone with an IQ of 92, I very much resent all this talk of IQ as a measurement of someone’s actual real world accomplishments. I don’t care if Bush has a measured IQ of 220, he isn’t wise enough to run a donut shop.

    Bush has managed to leverage a dull-normal intellect, slightly above average physical attributes, a famous name and millions and millions of dollars into the ultimate example of the Peter Principle. So has Paris Hilton.

    He does get credit for one smart move: Choosing Crooked Dick Cheney as his VP, thereby assuring that no one in their right mind would even consider taking him out or impeaching him. Gotta be a two-fer.

    But whether dumb like a fox or dumb like a rock, in either case, we will be supporting his worthless ass for the rest of his life. It makes me want to puke.

    And one more thing – if anybody believes that Captain Syntax actually wrote any of the books with his name on them, you’re probably gullible enough to have voted for him twice.

    Clue: People who don’t read books, don’t write them either.

  6. Richard Davis - October 27, 2006 @ 5:29 am

    Just wanted to stop by and say hello and thanks for the invite. I’ll see what I can do. Have a good weekend.

  7. Richard Davis - October 27, 2006 @ 5:39 am

    BTW (this is a little OT), I love the title of this thread. I’m a big John Lennon fan. Went to Liverpool in Aug ’93 for a weekend, and lucky me, it was the annual “Beatle Fest” (something like that). It was AMAZING. Went to the Cavern (it’s really right next to the cavern because the unfortunately tore down, but they realized their mistake and restored the basement next door to look like the original). Also took a “Magical Myster Tour Bus” which drove to all the historical spots. Including a stop at each of their homes and we got to get out and walk around the neighborhood for about 15 minutes, also Aunt Mime’s house, Penny Lane, the church where P met J, and more.

    If you ever go, take the tour. Best money you’ll ever spend.

    I had a beer with Alan Williams, the manager that took them to Hamburg, he was very drunk (and funny) and was telling John Lennon stories..

    Anyway, I assume you’re a beatle fan too?

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