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Monday, September 11, 2006

# Posted 11:07 PM by Ariel David Adesnik  

SUNDAY MORNING ROUND-UP: On the eve of September 11th, the networks devoted their morning shows to reflections on the past five years. NBC gave its full hour to Dick Cheney. CBS had Condi Rice, Charles Schumer and George Pataki. ABC had four members of the 9/11 Commission: Tom Kean, Richard Ben Veniste, Jamie Gorelick and John Lehman.
Cheney: C-. The VP says that we should've invaded Iraq even if we knew that Saddam had no WMD. Imagine selling that to the American public three years ago. Cheney also said that debating the merits of the war "validates the strategy of the terrorists." Cheney is right that this war is being fought in the theater of public opinion, but he is only hurting his/my/our cause.

Condi: B-. I've never heard her sound so defensive. Usually, she knows how to strike a thoughtful tone above the debate. Even more unusual, she was only getting predictable questions from the always friendly Bob Schieffer.

Schumer: B. I found him to be quite fair, but Kos & Co. were probably banging their heads against a wall after Schumer said "I do agree that we're better off without Saddam Hussein. It was a good thing to get rid of him. He was a brutal dictator."

Pataki: B-. Unmemorable.

Gorelick & Ben Veniste: B-. They did that annoying thing where they acted as if they're non-partisan commission members but just attacked on the administration.

Kean: C. I like Kean, but he sounded like a man desperately afraid to criticize the administration. He sounded less than honest because you just knew he was suppressing his real thoughts. At the same time he sounded less than brave because he didn't have the guts to say what he really thought.

Lehman: B+. The one straight-shooter on the panel. Very funny when he told Gorelick and Ben Veniste not to worry about ABC's less than accurate 9/11 mini-series, because Hollywood has beaten up on Republicans for years but he's gotten over it.
And I should add that Russert really did a solid job of interrogating Cheney. No question who won that round.
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Comments:
David:

Ignorance is bliss but I do expect you academics to get some things right.

How much of the Congressional war resolution was related to Sadaam having WMD.

I hope you are inferring that Cheney won the Russert/Cheney debate because he did. Mind you a question and answer session is not normally considered a debate so why do you frame it in those terms.
 
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