Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Now now, TBogg, Torie Clarke, new CNN partner to Paula Zahn isn't a living Carpet Swatch Book, she's a seatcover model.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Man, the right is latching on to any straw in order to tar Wesley Clark as a Very Big Liar. To reset the story, Clark made the following statements to Pigeyes Russert:
Now first they (George Will and Bill Safire, lying liars extraordinaires) try to say that Clark lied about the White House calling him, even though Clark never said so. Clark then said that the phone call came from someone in Canada, and they called Clark a liar saying there is no Middle East think tank based in Canada.
Well, there isn't, but Clark didn't say that. He said the call came from Canada, and that he was connected with a Middle East think tank. That turns out to be absolutely true.
Now the right is bitching because Clark didn't name the caller. (Read the comments. The original post, which does not make that complaint, is quite good, though.) Well, he was found several days before, and his name is Thomas Hecht, a fellow of the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies. It's based in Israel and has an office in Montreal. That would explain why the call itself came from Canada.
If this is what the press will latch onto at the start of Clark's campaign, it's going to be ugly.
CLARK: I think there was an immediate determination right after 9/11 that Saddam Hussein was one of the keys to winning the war on terror. Whether it was the need just to strike out or whether he was a linchpin in this, there was a concerted effort during the fall of 2001 starting immediately after 9/11 to pin 9/11 and the terrorism problem on Saddam Hussein.
RUSSERT: By who? Who did that?
CLARK: Well, it came from the White House, it came from people around the White House. It came from all over. I got a call on 9/11. I was on CNN, and I got a call at my home saying, “You got to say this is connected. This is state-sponsored terrorism. This has to be connected to Saddam Hussein.” I said, “But—I’m willing to say it but what’s your evidence?” And I never got any evidence. And these were people who had—Middle East think tanks and people like this, and it was a lot of pressure to connect this and there were a lot of assumptions made. But I never personally saw the evidence and didn’t talk to anybody who had the evidence to make that connection.
Now first they (George Will and Bill Safire, lying liars extraordinaires) try to say that Clark lied about the White House calling him, even though Clark never said so. Clark then said that the phone call came from someone in Canada, and they called Clark a liar saying there is no Middle East think tank based in Canada.
Well, there isn't, but Clark didn't say that. He said the call came from Canada, and that he was connected with a Middle East think tank. That turns out to be absolutely true.
Now the right is bitching because Clark didn't name the caller. (Read the comments. The original post, which does not make that complaint, is quite good, though.) Well, he was found several days before, and his name is Thomas Hecht, a fellow of the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies. It's based in Israel and has an office in Montreal. That would explain why the call itself came from Canada.
If this is what the press will latch onto at the start of Clark's campaign, it's going to be ugly.
