Just when you thought that the Bush administration was getting their footing back after misstep after misstep early this year, a new, tough foe emerges, one that is always two steps ahead of you. This foe is Richard Clarke. Bill Frist wants to declassify and cherry pick certain parts of a Clarke statement from last year. Does Clarke do a Bush and assassinate the character of Bill "Kitty" Frist? Does he duck the issue? Does he back away from his claims in the face of intimidation? No no no, Clarke says declassify it all. This couldn't have been done better. This already trustable, bipartisan, public servant receives another boost in my book. It is clear to me he just wants his story to be heard.I have spoken at length about how this is the most important and potentially the most damaging attack on the formerly Teflon like administration. Today, however, the fallout is beginning to show.

While recent poll numbers do not show any huge change in either approval or security ratings for Bush, the foundation is being chipped away. Condi Rice today refused to testify publicly and under oath for the 9-11 commission, using the excuse that there is executive privilege involved. Anyone as savvy as Karl Rove would know this would shine poorly on the president, so my thoughts are that there is something to hide. Perhaps after all of the character assassination, Clarke is right? Dr. Rice is ignoring a newly bipartisan call to rise above, something that would amount to a blockage for some of the Clarke mess, but still she refuses. Whether they have something to hide or not, I think that the court of public opinion is already deliberating. This does not bode well for a White House that has been plagued with a credibility gap and increasing questions about their honesty in leading us to war. What if it came out that GW was in fact, not strong on security and was actually just obsessed with Iraq? Well that isn't much news to those of us in the loop, where Dick Cheney says apparently Richard Clarke was not.

commercial Idea for Kerry or 527s
Voice: Some say the president is untouchable on Security
Flash to soundbyte of Dick Cheney from the Rush Limbaugh show: "Well, he wasn't -- he wasn't in the loop, frankly, on a lot of this stuff."
Voice: How secure is a President who keeps his Terrorism advisor out of the loop on terrorism?


I am Justin Kelly and I approved this message because dammit, we can't let them get away with saying stuff like that with no strings!

In the good sign department, John Kerry and Ralph Nader are meeting next month to discuss how to defeat GW. Hopefully, this will bridge the gap between the two, and they can act as separate fronts towards a common goal. I don't see Nader dropping out of the campaign at this point, but there really is no downside to the two men meeting. Although Kerry's agenda is rather progressive in my eyes, a little Nader influence couldn't hurt.

A pat on the back to John Kerry, who is already showing signs of learning from Al Gore's mistakes. He is raising the important issue of why it is when Bush and crew are attacked, they resort to character assassination instead of actually debating the issue at hand.

To the comedic note of the day, George Bush and crew are accusing John Kerry for using the bible for political purposes. Pot, kettle, black, this is like Hitler calling Rush Limbaugh a bigot. Before you go and say I compared Bush to Hitler..Ah hell, go ahead and say it.

Finally for this post, Zell Miller's seat in the Senate now has a democratic contender. While you all know what I think of Zell Miller, best of luck to Ms. Majette. You have an uphill battle after Miller's little stunt.