Pay No Attention to the Man Behind The Curtain -- yet another depressing installment, as Mr. Accountability once again ducks, weaves, and fails to take anything resembling responsibility for his subordinates' tightly scripted behavior. Worst US president ever, as Jimmy Carter charged a day or two ago? You bet. Richard Nixon looks like Cicero compared to W.

MSNBC REPORTER KELLY O'DONNELL: There's been some very dramatic testimony before the Senate this week from one of your former top Justice Department officials, who describes a scene that some senators called "stunning," about a time when the wireless -- when the warrantless wiretap program was being reviewed. Sir, did you send your then Chief of Staff [Andrew Card] and White House Counsel [Alberto Gonzales] to the bedside of John Ashcroft while he was ill to get him to approve that program? And do you believe that kind of conduct from White House officials is appropriate?

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Kelly, there's a lot of speculation about what happened and what didn't happen; I'm not going to talk about it. It's a very sensitive program. I will tell you that, one, the program is necessary to protect the American people, and it's still necessary because there's still an enemy that wants to do us harm.

And therefore, I have an obligation to put in place programs that honor the civil liberties of the American people; a program that was, in this case, constantly reviewed and briefed to the United States Congress. And the program, as I say, is an essential part of protecting this country.

And so there will be all kinds of talk about it. As I say, I'm not going to move the issue forward by talking about something as highly sensitive -- highly classified subject.
- posted by cjb @ 2:30 PM