Friday, April 09, 2004

BushCo. vs Clinton

Compare and contrast:

BushCo.: Fought to prevent the formation of the 9/11 Commission. When it finally relented, it stacked the commission with people it (mistakenly) thought it could control. Every step of the way, the administration dissembled and smeared those who testified to anything other than the party line; especially Republican appointee Richard Clarke. They fought for months to prevent Condi Rice from testifying, relenting only when public and commission pressure became too much of a liability. They made sure that her testimony toed the neo-con line as closely as possible. They withheld documents released from the Clinton Library to the commission and refused to release thousands of other documents, all the while claiming to be giving all possible assistance. Finally, in a move that boggles the mind, after much wrangling, they will allow Bush himself to testify only if the VP is there to hold his hand.

Clinton: Released all documents relevant to the investigation from his Presidential Library. Promised unrestricted access by the commission in interviewing him and his VP, Al Gore. And... well, let me let a member of the commission say the rest:

The commission met in private with former President Bill Clinton later in the day, it said in a statement that praised Clinton for being “forthcoming and responsive.”

“I thought it was tremendously helpful,” former Sen. Slade Gorton of Washington, a Republican member of the commission, said Thursday night on CNBC’s “Capitol Report.”

“He was totally forthcoming,” Gorton added. “He answered our questions very well. It was a very productive four hours.”
Think about how people behave when they have something to hide. How do they behave when they have nothing to hide?

Very instructive, no?

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