Daily Howler responds to idiocy of notion that Condeleeza Rice must have

[Eric J in MN]

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh040204.shtml

Daily Howler responds to idiocy of notion that Condeleeza Rice must have known the name "Al Quaeda" in October 2000, because she knew the name "Osama bin Laden" in October 2000.

That is the idiotic argument put forth by Chris Matthews to attack Richard Clarke.

Richard Clarke wrote in "Against All Enemies" that when he used the term "Al Quaeda" while talking to Condeleeza Rice, she didn't seem familiar with the term.

Bob Somerby is peerless in his willingness to stand up to Chris Mattews and the other pundits as they insult us with such idiotic arguments.

[alcuno]

1. I was happy to see Clarke refute this and once he did, Matthews

backed off.

[Eric J in MN]

3. Chris Matthews devoted a lot of words on his show to how

Chris Matthews devoted a lot of words on his show to how supposedly confusing it was that Clarke wrote in his book that Condeleeza Rice didn't seem familiar with the name "Al Quaeda," and that the author didn't say that she might have known the name "Osama bin Laden."

I didn't feel like Matthews backed down so much as exhausted that idiotic argument.

[Eric J in MN]

2. I have a link for The Daily Howler at MoveLeft Media, and I encourage

I have a link for The Daily Howler at MoveLeft Media, and if you have a website, I encourage you to link to The Daily Howler.

If everyone read The Daily Howler, people like Chris Matthews couldn't get away with that nonsense.

www.moveleft.com

[Sparky McGruff]

4. I think it's missing his point...

The 'pubs keep going on about how "she knew the words Al Quaeda"... It fits their literalist fundamentalist nature to do that, and we're letting them.

The point wasn't that she knew or didn't know the words. The point was that she gave him a confused look, "like she didn't know what the words mean".

In other words, when he discussed Al Quaeda as a key element in terrorism, she looked at him like he said "the root cause of terrorism is deep dish pan pizzas", or "the root cause of terrorism is the Girl Scouts".

The point is that she didn't know what it meant -- as in the significance of the organization. Not that she had never heard words Al Quaeda before...

It's a trait of small minds to lose the point of a conversation, and focus on the words. Things like metaphors and allegorical stories go out the window.

[xchrom]

5. ya nailed it, sparky