Bush, Cheney Coached for 9/11 Questioning

[denverbill]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&e=4&u=/nm/20040427/pl_nm/security_bush_dc

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House aides coached President Bush (news - web sites) and Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) on Tuesday for their appearance before a panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks that they agreed to under pressure and only if they could appear together and behind closed doors.

At the administration's request, Thursday's unprecedented questioning of a president and vice president at the White House will not be recorded and a transcript will not be made.

Their testimony will not be under oath, but White House spokesman Scott McClellan said they "will tell it exactly how it happened."

<snip>
Cheney needed coaching?? Not likely. Now Shrub is a very different story.

[Beetwasher]

1. Pathetic Cowards

n/t

[KC]

23. I agree

Even this picture that is posted with Yahoo's article makes me
want to gag.

[young_at_heart]

2. Where, oh where, is the outrage?

Why don't the words "unprecedented" that have been used over and over and over again for this administration cause concern?

[belladonna]

17. That's my question

Where IS the outrage? I remember when Clinton got that oh so important blowjob and that's all the sheeple could talk about for a fucking year. But here we have the so called president and vice president OBVIOUSLY lying their asses off and covering up and the sheeple just continue to graze while it all flies right over their heads. :grr:

[booksenkatz]

3. Well Jesus

If they're just gonna get up there and tell the truth about what happened, tell what they knew and when they knew it, tell what they did based on the incoming intelligence, and do it to the best of their ability... why do they need coaching? If Clinton had been coached for his SWORN testimony, we never would have heard the end of it.
:grr::puke::grr::puke::grr::puke::grr::puke::grr::puke:

[bushisanidiot]

4. I don't understand how anyone in their right mind could vote for AWOL

he's OBVIOUSLY lying.. otherwise, why is he not going on the record? why behind closed doors? give me a break!!!

[peekaloo]

5. Cheney was instructed to drink water while Boo$h talks

to dispel the ventriloquist rumor.

[Turbineguy]

29. He should also keep

both hands on the table.

[nodehopper]

47. LOL, the Onion just ran a headline to the same effect

[RobertSeattle]

6. At the RW Pundits are so quiet...

Can you think what venom they'd be spewing if Clinton/Gore had demanded unsworn, no-notes, duo hearing?

Hypocrites

[fryguy]

7. HO LEE SH*T

"Their testimony will not be under oath, but White House spokesman Scott McClellan said they "will tell it exactly how it happened."

smirk and dick together....

at the white house....

no oath....

no transcript....

coached questions/answers....

no doubt we will finally get to the bottom of this now! <sarcasm>

[Catfight]

8. Then swear under oath exactly how it happened....

you're either honest or dishonest and I'm claiming Bush is dishonest if he won't go under oath. His FATHER would want it that way.

[judy]

9. How dare they say that Presidents do not testify under oath,

after the grilling they gave Clinton on Monica, broadcast on television to millions of viewers and under oath, etc...

I feel sick.

[BadGimp]

10. can you imagine the HOWLS from the Rethuglicans

If a Democratic president was being coached before testifying before Congress?

omg they'd be spazin in the iles.

[jpak]

11. Our Great War President has to hide from the public

with his nanny to appear before the 9/11 commission.

Will he wear his "manly" flight suit too????

The GOP - Party of Personal Responsibility my ass.

[jesus]

50. I'm guessing he'll wear...

His "Woody's Roundup" footie pj's.

[beyurslf]

12. I guess in my old age my memory has completely failed.

I though unprecedented events were things that had never happened before. And I thought President Clinton testified under oath on camera and it was shown. I am pretty sure I saw it. Damn those SNL actors can do a good impression!

[denverbill]

15. Oh, but THAT was different.

After all, that was a private lawsuit about alleged sexual harassment in a case which was never prosecuted and which resulted in the discovery of a current affair.

In other words, it was about something important, not something stupid like how well a President has protected our country from terrorism.

[lancdem]

18. LOL

How true.

[midnight armadillo]

48. Never underestimate the power and danger of Clinton's Penis

'nuff said

[Missy Vixen]

13. If they are telling the truth

Why no recording or transcript?

If they are telling the truth, why no testimony under oath, which every other American must submit to when being questioned by a government entity?

If Americans are not outraged, they're not paying attention!

Julie

[denverbill]

16. Personally, I'm more outraged by the joint testimony.

How can anyone have any respect for a President that can't even be trusted to remember the events relating to 9-11 well enough to testify? I know he's a fucking idiot, but you'd think even an idiot could at least dredge up a few details of that time period.

[Cannikin]

14. The Onion:

Cheney Wows Sept. 11 Commission By Drinking Glass Of Water While Bush Speaks

[St. Jarvitude]

24. I love the Onion!

Thanks, I needed a laugh on this horrible day of slaughter in Fallujah.

[Generator]

19. Will not be recorded and a transcript will not be made.

Oh why bother? WHY bother?

I don't know if Bush & Cheney are ashamed, but I am. I am ashamed of my country and those that support this level of accountablity.

America if this is all you think you deserve, then don't you think that the TERRORISTS HAVE ALREADY WON? (Certainly they can win September 11th, the sequel with no questions asked)

Now, go back to your mindless life and have a nice day.

[yellowcanine]

20. Scott McClellan said they "will tell it exactly how it happened." Well ...

That's a relief. And here I thought they were testifying together and getting coached so they could keep the storyline straight. What a doofus I was.

[Syrinx]

21. what's the point?

Holding hands. Not under oath. No recording. No transcript. What's the point?

[bhunt70]

28. there isnt one...they trivialized it.

[ninkasi]

22. Shrub is a coward

It's embarrassing to have a president who is too chicken to face the committee without his "Daddy" Cheney holding his hand. He's a poor excuse for a human being, isn't he? It infuriates me that this coward has no qualms about sending our young men and women to die and be maimed in his illegal invasion, and he doesn't have the guts to face the commission all by his cowardly little self.

[74dodgedart]

25. tweedledee and tweedleDUMB

[skypilot]

26. No record and no transcript

And the freepers will cheer, "Yaayyy, we get to stay ignorant and uninformed all for the sake of sticking it to the Democrats!!" If there is a brain among them they should be as upset about this as we are, but alas...

[progressivebydesign]

27. I'm sorry COACHING????????????????????

Umm if these M.F.s are supposedly telling it "exactly how it happened", then why do they NEED to be coached. Telling the truth is telling the truth.. there ain't no coaching about it. I'm so pissed right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Just Me]

35. Heh, heh,...being coached to evade, deceive, distract, emote, etc.

These two don't know HOW to tell the truth, any truth.

They are obviously tee-totally PATHOLOGICAL LIARS.

Anyone try to argue with a pathological liar? It's a loser situation. When you catch them making up shit, they turn and twist and spin so expertly,...you wonder whether you are dealing with mentally deluded or a completely evil person. With respect to these guys: I'd give more weight to the latter than the former even though it is a complex blend of a politically criminal mind.

[young_at_heart]

30. Who "coached" Clinton?

How about Gore, etc. Who all has been coached?

[Turbineguy]

31. Coaching? Shouldn't take long

"Deny Everything"

"If they ask you if your name is George Bush, just say "No!"".

[Buns_of_Fire]

32. Remember, DICK, it's your responsibility to wipe any drool

from Commander Codpiece's chin. Bunnypants, if you have to go potty, remember to raise your hand first and don't just sit there trying to hold it in. No, Bunnypants, you don't get to wear the flight suit. No, you can't pass notes back and forth during the meeting, either. No, DICK, lunch will not be served. No, Bunnypants, filling the water pitcher with vodka would NOT be considered "cool." And, both of you, please, NO overt displays of affection in front of the committee!

[glitch]

33. they are humiliating the republican party, which is too (?) to notice

(?) fill in the blank. My best guess: brains shut down from fear.

[sundancekid]

34. it will matter more than ever ...

... for the commissioners to be FULLY prepared and ready to make inquiries of these 2 bad actors ... no amount of coaching will outrun their failed non-actions ...

PLEASE PUT TRUTH FIRST ... for a CHANGE
Not only the 9/11 families, but ALL Americans deserve no less.
O8)

[ConcernedCanuk]

36. Exclusive pic of Bush n Cheny preparing for 911 "testimony"

.
.
.


.
.

[symbolman]

37. Bush

demands that Cheney "trim his fingernails"...

[Malva Zebrina]

38. what a laugh

they were "coached" that makes me believe they know the questions.

What a pathectic representation of a once proud nation - what a cheap and sleezy scam- this is a total farce. How they can hold up their heads and proceed on as if they are in charge is unbelieveable to me.

It also looks as though Cheney's bribery of Scalia, will be productive.

[paulthompson]

39. check out this Village Voice article!

It contains a tough and great list of questions to ask Bush and Cheney. He got feedback from me and the Jersey Girls on what questions to ask, and I got feedback from other DUers, and some of those questions too made it into the article.

Grilled to Order

What we’d Like to ask when Bush and Cheney take the hot seat

by James Ridgeway

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0417/mondo2.php

On Thursday, Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will sit together and speak—off the record and in private—to the 9-11 Commission. Bush and Cheney can make a record of the interview, but the commission, under a bizarre agreement, is prohibited from doing so.

By refusing to appear separately or in public, the two may have taken the panel for a ride, but they can't avoid the tough questions forever. Both give every sign of having been asleep at the switch on 9-11. Worse, for months they have been engaged in collusion to obstruct justice by thwarting first congressional and then commission investigations. Sooner or later, both must be served with subpoenas, sworn to tell the truth, and ordered to testify under threat of impeachment and/or criminal prosecution.

Let's start with Bush. Here's the setup: Morning, September 11, 2001. At 8:40 NORAD is notified Flight 11 has been hijacked. At 8:43 NORAD is notified Flight 175 is hijacked. At 9, Bush arrives at the Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, where he takes a call from Condoleezza Rice before entering an elementary school classroom for a photo op. Certainly by that moment Rice must have known that one plane had hit the World Trade Center and another had been hijacked.

Now a few simple questions for our president, the last six from the Family Steering Committee, whose members lost loved ones on 9-11:

[Bluebear]

40. COACHED!?!?!?

Gee I thought witnesses were just called upon to tell the truth. Oh sorry, forgot they refuse to be sworn in.

[greenleaf]

41. All those preconditions

they've set for appearing before the commision is sort of reminiscent of a particular scene from the movie 'Bonfire of the Vanities'.

Where the Tom Hanks character ,Sherman, says to the detectives investigating a hit and run accident, something like;

"But I've got certain rights. Don't I?"

The detective replies (whilst proceeding to sit down on Shermans' desk),

"Let me put it this way, if you
want to cooperate, that's great.
If you have reasons for not
cooperating, then I should tell
you that you don't have to say
anything. That's your right. If
you want, you can say nothing at
all. You also have the right to
an attorney. I mean, for that
matter, if you lacked the 'funds'
for an attorney, the state would
provide you with one -- free of
charge. If that's what you
wanted."

Edit some spacing

[Solly Mack]

42. Why even bother?

If the commission accepted those terms then shame on the commission.

The issue should have been forced.

Presidents can and DO testify under oath.

In addition to: When Cheney and Bush were sworn in they took an oath....an oath that is still binding. An oath they should be held accountable under and both impeached with...for those two have truly broken the oath of office(s).

[leesa]

43. So...truth won't work? They won't agree on what happened??

Hello Americans...Red lights are flashing and scorching your hair, WAKE UP!

[dusty64]

44. Coached! Now why oh why

would they need to be told what to say. Can you imagine if this story appeared describing a Democratic President?

[Vladimir]

45. Well no shit n/t

[nodehopper]

46. don't they realize it sounds really suspicious

the no oath thing and the appearance together?

[leetrisck]

49. Attorney Gonzalez is going to be with

them - New York Times article today. He will probably be the one answering questions. Oh I forgot, they are there to talk - not answer questions.