Wednesday, April 14, 2004
GONE FISHING Part of the conventional wisdom (at least as I have received it) about presidential vacations is that they aren't true vacations. Because the work of a president never really stops--it just gets relocated.
But not once during August, 2001.
Now Atrios notices that--contrary to the insinuations of just about everybody in the White House--during August, 2001, Bush did not talk, not once, with CIA head George Tenet.
Not in person, not by phone, and not by video phone.
Not before the PDB, not after the PDB. Nada.
And yet, here's Bush last night:
As a matter of fact, I was dealing with terrorism a lot as the president when George Tenet came in to brief me. I mean, that's where I got my information.
But not once during August, 2001.
Think about that.
UPDATE: Tenet has amended his testimony--he is now asserting that he met twice with the President during August, 2001.
So, to put it another way, during a month of elevated terrorism threat, when warnings of an impending attack were pouring into US intelligence agencies, the President of the United States met a grand total of two times with the man from whom he, "got [his] information."
