April 16,
2004
Where PDB = "Pin Damage on Bush"
"Mr. Bush's remarks came after a week in which the president had remained largely out of view, even as violence was escalating in Iraq and as his terrorism policies were being challenged. His comments were part of a White House effort to quell the storm about the briefing he received on Aug. 6, 2001. Democrats and Republicans said on Sunday that the release of the document-combined with images of American bloodshed and the disorder in Iraq-was threatening the central pillar of the president's re-election campaign, his record on managing national security."
- Adam Nagourney and Philip Shenon, April 12.
"In a single 17-sentence document, the intelligence briefing delivered to President Bush in August 2001 spells out the who, hints at the what and points toward the where of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington that followed 36 days later. Whether its disclosure does lasting damage to Mr. Bush's presidency and re-election prospects may depend on whether the White House succeeds in persuading Americans that, as a whole, its significance adds up to less than a sum of those parts."
- Intelligence reporter Douglas Jehl, April 11.
Bumiller to Bush: Say You're Sorry
"Do you feel any sense of personal responsibility for September 11th?"
- Elisabeth Bumiller's question to Bush during his press conference the night of April 13.
Better When Everyone Was Poor
"The roaring Chinese economy is creating jobs and opportunities, but it has also created a stark divide between rich and poor."
- Jim Yardley, April 14.
Incurious George
"Americans knew George W. Bush was an incurious man when they elected him, but the hearings of the 9/11 investigating commission, which turned yesterday from the F.B.I.'s fecklessness to the C.I.A.'s blurred vision, have brought that fact home in a startling way."
- Opening sentence of an April 15 editorial on pre-9/11 intelligence failures.
Tune in to Liberal Talk
"Five-dollar words aren't funny. Liberals sometimes are. Tune in if you don't believe her."
- Conclusion to Robin Finn's "Public Lives" profile of liberal Air America radio host Lizz Winstead, April 14.
"Centrist" Kerry vs. "Dwindling" Liberals in Congress
"Can the private sector generate enough jobs to return the United States to full employment? Or must government play a much greater supporting role in job creation? That question, once hotly debated, is barely mentioned today. It should be.Among politicians they show up, when they show up at all, in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. Mr. Frank is a member of that dwindling wing. John Kerry, the presidential candidate, is not. He is a centrist, in the Clinton mode. He counts on the private sector to generate full employment, with government playing a peripheral role, mainly in tax incentives that encourage companies to create more jobs."
- Economics reporter Louis Uchitelle, April 11.
