Isikoff on Franken next to talk about Downing St....

[sabra]

[The Witch]

1. Shelby Knox was great

She should be on every TV news show. What a brilliant young woman.

[BlueEyedSon]

10. She was on NOW on PBS, I think her movie will be on TV too.

[warrens]

38. I saw that on Sunday

I may miss Bill Moyers, but NOW has been dynamite for the last month or two. I HAVE to see this movie; she's quite something. For those who don't know who she is, she's a 16 year old girl from Lubbock who has taken on the Fundies about sex education. There's a documentary film showing next week in some PBS markets.

[Darkhawk32]

2. Hmmm... this should be interesting. Will he play it down? n/t

[kaitykaity]

3. Let's see if Isikoff echoes NYT Frank Rich line.

"It's not important."

:grr:

Hopefully Franken asks about the Dana Milbank
fiasco.

[sabra]

4. on now....

[sabra]

5. Isikoff: 9 memos

all from the same source

[sabra]

7. Isikoff: memo's retyped

not photocopied, retyped to replicate original.

[sabra]

8. Isikoff: they have been authenticated

[sabra]

11. Isikoff: option paper memo

intelligence was poor.

[sabra]

13. Franken played audio of Cheney saying there was no doubt

that Saddam had WMD.

[sabra]

15. Isikoff: every one thought that would be true

however, he starting stretching it when saying that they were going to use it at any time...

[sabra]

16. Isikoff: Saddam may have WMD, but was no threat

[sabra]

17. Isikoff: Condi was wrong about the aluminum tubes

Franken: she was deliberately deceiving people

[sabra]

22. Isikoff: his "favorite" memo was the Wolfowitz meeting

Wolfowitz said it was absurd not to think there was a connection between 9/11 and Iraq. They were looking in all ways of connecting the two.

[sabra]

23. Isikoff: Wolfowitz was essentially trying in all ways to connect

Saddam and 9/11. The debunked Atta meeting with Iraqi official.

[kaitykaity]

6. Press coverage "cautious" because they were retyped???

:wtf:

More excuses from a media whore.

:grr:

[DemsUnited]

28. Fine, frame the debate based on authenticity

Remember that the very first question that John Conyers asked in his letter to Bush: "Do you or anyone in your administration dispute the accuracy of the leaked document?"

So, are the memos authentic? Because, if they are, they're damning!

[kaitykaity]

37. Not the point.

We went a whole month after the first minutes were
released before anyone in the American media would
deign to pay attention.

This stuff was too damning to bush for them to touch,
and now they're looking to cover their asses for why
it took them so long to finally pay attention.

[muriel_volestrangler]

44. Most of the memos were revealed in September 2004

by Michael Smith (including images of a couple):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/18/nwar118.xml

March 8, 2002 Options Paper for Tony Blair
March 14, 2002 from Sir David Manning to Tony Blair
March 18, 2002 from Sir Cristopher Meyer to Sir David Manning
March 22 2002 from Peter Ricketts to Jack Straw
March 25, 2002 memo from Jack Straw to Tony Blair

and noted on DU by cal04:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=835625

so they have little excuse for not following up then. What would have happened in the US election is there had been more US publicity?

[warrens]

43. Frankly, I'd be careful too

I don't know why they couldn't have just used a black magic marker on anything incriminating, then photocopy that copy and destroy it after the copies are made. It doesn't excuse waiting 27 freaking days, but it would make me cautious.

[kaitykaity]

45. 27 freaking days is right.

It's documentary evidence, the kind that stands
up in any courtroom. That's why McGovern is making
such a big deal about it.

I just don't trust any mainstream outlet anymore.
They've gotten so good at making excuses for Bush
that now they're just doing the same themselves.

[NewJeffCT]

9. please summarize for the cube rats

thanks!

[fryguy]

12. hasn't the UK gov acknowledged the memos authenticity?

and the excuse * and blair used to explain them was that they were sent before the US went to the UN. a perfectly IDIOTIC argument, but they ADMITTED the memo (or memos) are real so why is this even an issue now???

[kaitykaity]

14. Played Cheney quote that "there is no doubt" about WMD

and asked Isikoff to explain that given the memo
said evidence thin.

Isikoff hmmed and hawed.

[Norquist Nemesis]

18. Isikoff's being overly careful

Isn't he the same reporter that was summarily reamed by the attack machine over the Newsweek article?

[kaitykaity]

19. One and the same.

His karmic payback for the glee with which he went
after Clinton on the Monica story.

[sabra]

21. same, indeed.

careful but not dismissive.

[NewJeffCT]

24. yes, he is

And, Isikoff is pretty conservative, if I'm not mistaken.

[LizW]

20. Al is holding Isikoff's feet to the fire!

Isikoff is hemming and hawing and Al is giving him what for.

Condi wasn't WRONG, she was LYING when she said the aluminum tubes could be used for no other purpose besides enriching uranium. She knew it at the time, too.

[Brotherjohn]

42. Hell, YES!! A "BOXED" section of the NIE on Iraq explicitly stated other..

... uses. Not only that, this was the "dissenting" opinion from the State Department and the Department of Energy, the latter being our BEST experts on nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. They felt that the aluminum tubes could NOT have been for uranium enrichment, and felt that that they were likely for the purpose Iraq had claimed they were for: conventional artillery.

This was also, by the way, being publicly stated as the most likely use by the I.A.E.A. (the world's experts on nuclear energy and weapons).

So we're supposed to believe Condi Rice, the National Security Adviser to the president helping to decide whether or not we should go to war with Iraq, simply missed that? The NIE on the Iraqi "threat" was all of 90 pages!

She's either the most incompetent NSA we've ever had, or a bald-faced liar.

I vote the latter.

[sabra]

25. taking break, will continue...

[kaitykaity]

26. Good recaps.

After we both picked out the same stuff to highlight,
I figured it was good on you.

:thumbsup:

[sabra]

39. thanks, I tired to make them decent.

and thanks for help too! :-)

[kaitykaity]

40. I'm sure the cube rats thank you.

:)

[comsymp]

41. We thank you both... all!

[LizW]

27. Go Al! Isikoff keeps saying, "We know NOW..."

And Al interrupts and says "We knew THEN!" Isikoff stammers and says well, these memos go to what the British were saying and thinking at the time. And Al says abruptly, "Well, if they knew, then we knew it too." And goes to commercial.

:rofl:

[Dawgs]

32. "EEEhhhhhh, AAAAHHhhhh, which memo is that from?"

"Wellll, maybeee!!!"

Isikoff is pathetic. Grow some man.

[sabra]

29. Why are so many news memo's coming out now?

Isikoff: People inside the UK gov't who are upset, and are willing to reveal this information. Put heat on the Bush administration.

[sabra]

31. Franken: hints that it's all about Oil

Isikoff: strays away from that one.

[sabra]

33. Franken: memo mentions about a potential Sunni fight

Isikoff: not sure which memo that came from.

[bpilgrim]

35. it is telling that OIL is NEVER discussed in our M$M

only dismissed as silly CT :eyes:

peace

[ProfessorPlum]

30. Isakoff . . .

what a whore.

[ProfessorPlum]

34. Isakoff: Uh . . Uh. . . Uh. . .. ..

"must not admit that Al is right and the wingers are full of crap."

What a waste of time. Can't Al talk about this issue with a reporter who didn't spend three years sniffing Monica's panties?

[DURHAM D]

36. I am sick and tired of the MSM idiots diminishing the importance of

the DSM by saying "it is nothing new" and "we knew it all along". The fact of the matter is that the MSM did know from the get go that it was all smoke and mirrors (lies to me and you)- but, the problem is they forgot to tell their readers.

No one seems to be calling out reporters directly on the fact that they were part of the secret keeping for the administration. Al is missing an opportunity here.