PROBABLY HOAXES

Well, kudos to the blogosphere, although big media didn’t give Powerline the credit they deserve. I’d say, given the preponderance of expert opinion, that it now looks probable that the Killian memos were hoaxes. Maybe this would have emerged without blogs. But it sure emerged more quickly because of them. Now the real question: who hoaxed CBS? And why?

THE PLAIN MEANING: Yes, I’ve looked at the full quote of Dick Cheney’s comments about a terrorist attack if Kerry is elected. Yes, he clearly did mean that the full scope of Kerry’s anti-terror approach would make us more vulnerable, a perfectly fair point. But it’s also indisuptable that his words are most persuasively interpreted the way everyone first interpreted them. Here they are in full:

Because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we’ll get hit again, that we’ll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we’ll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind set if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts, and that we’re not really at war. I think that would be a terrible mistake for us.

Maybe Cheney misspoke, and it’s certainly fair for a politician to clarify his remarks in retrospect. But Cheney makes no apology. He just says “I did not say if Kerry is elected, we will be hit by a terrorist attack.” This is what gets me about the guy. He cannot acknowledge even minor error. His attitude is essentially: I’m running a war and critics can go fuck themselves. Remember his response to Abu Ghraib? People should “get off [Rumsfeld’s] case.” The sheer effrontery of people trying to hold someone accountable for one of the worst humiliations for the U.S. in decades. Cheney’s arrogance and his absolute refusal even to countenance the views of others are dangers for this country. In a second term, all his worst instincts will be reinforced.