bush
Understanding Condi
The New York Daily News seems to think that these Twenty Things About Condi including her advice to clinton in 1993, her workout routine and her impact on ariel sharon are important to know prior to tomorrow’s testimony before the 9/11 Commission.
Via A List a Day.
Nope, No Transparency Here
The bushies will not release to the 9/11 Commission the complete text of rice’s preempted 9/11 speech. Josh Marshall tries to understand why not:
Unless the argument is that we can’t let our enemies know the depth of the poor judgment displayed by the president’s national security team it is searchingly hard to fathom what possible national security issue could be implicated by handing over the speech since it was — do we have to say it? — a speech! A speech for public consumption.
And just to be clear:
Trent Duffy, a spokesman for the White House, said only: �The White House is working with the commission to ensure that it has access to what it needs to do its job.�
These folks must have a different understanding of the commission’s job then the rest of us.
bush Policys Create Job Growth
Washington DC has averaged 0.8% job growth per year while w has been in office. Which might show that deficits have been good for the bureaucracy.
Ok, sure this is not fair. Even in DC bush has not done as well as reagan and clinton who scored 4.1% and 2.4% annual job growth in DC. And it paints a distorted picture as it turns out that so far 63 of the top 100 labor markets have shown job loss during bush’s first 3 years or, full the half full crowd, 37 of the top 100 have shown job growth.
Read a more thorough comparison at American City Business Journals.
Via Suburban Guerilla.
Clarke’s Book
Tim Dunlop has read the first bit of Clarke’s book Against All Enemies and has a lot to say about it:
The first thing to say is that, despite all the hostility arising from the 60 Minutes interview last night, Clarke is rather more respectful of the administration than I might have anticipated.
This is in respect to both bush and rice. Sure, this impression may change after more reading but given all the ranting going on today I certainly expected readers to have a different impression.
Based on Tim’s review of the first chapter that this will be a book that folks on all sides of the related issues will want to read:
I guess there are two stories being interwoven: the close-up detail of the day and of how the administration and the various intelligence and security agencies reacted to the attacks, and then Clarke’s reflections on the people involved, and the broader context within which the events unfolded.
There’s not much point trying to recount the close-up detail, the way planes were grounded, the air force was scrambled, the individuals from the President down were secured and the way all the actions to cope with the attack were launched, because no summary can do it justice. All I can say is, if you get a chance to read it, read it. It’s a gripping account.
I’m looking forward to the reading and the discussion.