Surprise, surprise (It's October, after all). NBCNews reported last night that those 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives "now missing" at Iraq's Al-Qaqaa [deep doo doo] facility that the desperately anti-Bush New York Times hyperventilated about -- and John Kerry bashed Bush about -- and "60 Minutes" missed the scoop* about -- yesterday were already missing back on April 10, 2003 -- when U.S. troops arrived at the installation south of Baghdad! Phew. Yesterday we had adopted a wait-and-see attitude and worried whether the story would have legs. Now E.D. Hill on Fox & Friends is noting the NYT's morning-after response is to hide their error way at the bottom of the last paragraph of today's follow-up. Drudge reports:
According to NBCNEWS, the HMX and RDX explosives were already missing when the American troops arrived.
A senior Bush official e-mailed DRUDGE late Monday [giggle alert]: "Let me get this straight, are Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards now saying we did not go into Iraq soon enough? We should have invaded and liberated Iraq sooner?"
Top Kerry adviser [and recipient of "60 Minutes" producer Mary Mapes' heads-up re Rathergate, blogged here] Joe Lockhart fired back Monday night: "The White House is desperately flailing in an effort to escape blame. Instead of distorting John Kerry’s words, the Bush campaign is now falsely and deliberately twisting the reports of journalists. It is the latest pathetic excuse from an administration that never admits a mistake, no matter how disastrous."
Did we read that right? Joe is upset because the White House is "twisting the reports of journalists" instead of their proper role, "distorting John Kerry's words"? The Republicans may be the "Stupid Party," but the Democrats are the "You're So Stupid You'll Believe Anything We Shovel Your Way Party." Drudge adds:
Why is the U.N. nuclear agency suddenly warning now that insurgents in Iraq may have obtained nearly 400 tons of missing explosives -- in early 2003?
NBCNews Jim Miklaszewski quoted one official: "Recent disagreements between the administration and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency makes this announcement appear highly political."
Politics as usual, and may the best man -- the one who respects the electorate's intelligence -- win.
*According to Drudge, "The source behind the NYT story first went to CBSNEWS' 60 MINUTES last Wednesday, but the beleaguered network wasn't able to get the piece on the air as fast as the newspaper could print. Executive producer Jeff Fager hoped to break the story during a high-impact election eve broadcast of 60 MINS on October 31."
Love this comment "Let me get this straight, are Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards now saying we did not go into Iraq soon enough? We should have invaded and liberated Iraq sooner?" Do it your way or do it my way, it is wrong either way.
Posted by: acjgoomp | October 26, 2004 at 09:01 AM
You can't win? :)
Posted by: Sissy Willis | October 26, 2004 at 09:31 AM