Who Were the Worst of 2004?

The Buffalo Beast answers the question.

CNB's favorites:

• Zell Miller is "Part Yosemite Sam and Part Foghorn Leghorn"
• Alan Colmes is "an effete liberal dive artist"
• "Newspaper columnists performed astonishing feats of selective memory in canonizing Reagan"
• Dan Rather has "given the rabid right enough fuel to maintain their bogus “liberal media” charge for years"

Fabulous stuff.

Condoleezza Rice - A Study in Quotation

September 8, 2002:

• "The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he [Saddam Hussein] can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."

September 25, 2002

• We clearly know that there were in the past and have been contacts between senior Iraqi officials and members of al-Qaida going back for actually quite a long time.
• We know too that several of the detainees, in particular some high ranking detainees, have said that Iraq provided some training to al-Qaida in chemical weapons development.So, yes, there are contacts between Iraq and al-Qaida.
• We know that Saddam Hussein has a long history with terrorism in general. And there are some al-Qaida personnel who found refuge in Baghdad.
• No one is trying to make an argument at this point that Saddam Hussein somehow had operational control of what happened on September 11, so we don't want to push this too far, but this is a story that is unfolding, and it is getting clear, and we're learning more.
• We're learning more because we have a lot of detainees who are able to fill in pieces of the puzzle.
• And when the picture is clear, we'll make full disclosure about it.
• But, yes, there clearly are contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq that can be documented.
• There clearly is testimony that some of these contacts have been important contacts and there's a relationship here.

July 30, 2003

• "It was a case that said he was trying to reconstitute. He's trying to acquire nuclear weapons. Nobody ever said that it was going to be the next year."

October 10, 2004

• "The intelligence assessment was that he was reconstituting his nuclear program; that, left unchecked, he would have a nuclear weapon by the end of the year. "

January 18, 2005 at her confirmation hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

• "My assessments may not always be ones that you want to hear. They may not always be ones with which you agree. But I will tell you what I think."
• "Senator, we can have this discussion in any way that you would like. But I really hope that you will refrain from impugning my integrity."
• "Senator, I'm happy to continue the discussion, but I really hope that you will not imply that I take the truth lightly."

Is Gonzales Really Bush's Enforcer?

Sorry to take the form of other blogs that include a link and do nothing but rehash it, but CNB is crazy busy right now. However, knowing that both of the loyal CNB readers need their fix, here is a really lousy blog entry on a very interesting article.

According to Newsweek:

• Questions are being asked about Bush's nominee for Attorney General, the previously discussed Alberto Gonzales -- these relate to his role in helping President Bush escape jury duty in a drunken-driving case involving a dancer at an Austin strip club in 1996 (when Bush was governor of Texas)
• The judge and other lawyers in the case last week disputed a written account of the matter provided by Gonzales to the Senate Judiciary Committee
• According to the judge, Gonzales (then chief counsel to Bush) asked to have an off-the-record conference in the judge's chambers. Gonzales then asked Crain to "consider" striking Bush from the jury, making the novel "conflict of interest" argument that the Texas governor might one day be asked to pardon the defendant (who, remember, was a stripper accused of a DUI)
• Word is, everybody went along with it, and Bush was excused
• By getting excused from jury duty, Bush was able to avoid questions that would have required him to disclose his own 1976 arrest and conviction for DUI, delaying that from becoming public knowledge until the closing days of the 2000 campaign
• Interestingly, Bushleft blank on his jury questionnaire whether he had ever been "accused" in a criminal case
• "Judge Gonzales has no recollection of requesting a meeting in chambers," a senior White House official said.

CNB is very curious to see how this all turns out. No one seems to care about Abu Ghraib, but old-fashioned back-room deals never seem to go over well.