PLAYING THE GAME....I forgot to mention this yesterday, but John Ashcroft has continued to declassify documents that were written by 9/11 commissioner Jamie Gorelick back in the mid-90s. Needless to say, his gleeful reaction when he released the first of those documents a couple of weeks ago made it clear that the sole purpose of these declassifications is to try to embarrass Gorelick, not to shed any light on counterterrorism efforts prior to 9/11.
Yesterday we learned that the president was "disappointed" in Ashcroft's actions. He doesn't like finger pointing, you see, and his disappointment has been clearly conveyed to the Justice Department.
Isn't that elegant? By playing it this way the documents themselves are still made public, thus accomplishing the aim of embarrassing a Democratic member of the 9/11 panel, but Bush himself gets to look mature and presidential by condemning Ashcroft's childish political gamesmanship. Nicely played, Mr. President, nicely played....
—Kevin Drum 9:08 PM
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