"This [the uranium and WMD claims against Iraq] did not rise to the level of certainty which should be required for Presidential speeches, and CIA should have ensured that it was removed."
--CIA Director George Tenet, in a statement released 11 July 2003
"I should have either asked that the 16 words dealing with [the uranium] subject be stricken or I should have alerted DCI (Director of Central Intelligence) Tenet. And had I done so this would have avoided the whole current controversy. It is now clear to me that I failed in that responsibility."
--Deputy national security adviser Stephen Hadley, 22 July 2003
"I gave a speech to the nation that was cleared by the intelligence services."
--President George Bush, July 2003
How long ago were the days when "Presidential politics" meant accepting full responsibility (occasionally, at least) for lapses in process or judgment that negatively affected the nation and its citizens. To wit:
"The President - whoever he is - has to decide. He can't pass the buck to anybody."
--President Harry S. Truman, January 1953
Lazarus and I played a game this morning:
Mama to Lazarus: If you were president, how would you handle this mess?
Lazarus: Throw Green Froggie from the train and full speed ahead! ... Oh, dang it, we're still not out of hot water...
Okay, so throw Yellow Froggie from the train! ... Dang those no-good liberal rabblerousers -- what do we have to do, start a war somewhere else to distract them?
Heh heh, just kidding, mama!
If I were president, I'd handle this mess by telling the whole truth, calling for the resignation of my entire staff and cabinet including Mr. Cheney, and then resigning myself. Because that's the kind of honorable guy I am.
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