Hijacking the issue

A scandal hits and the spinning ensues, from Trent Lott, Robert Novak, Laura Bush -- and even Salon.

By Ben Fritz

May 18, 2002 | After Thursday's revelations about the White House's knowledge of a possible hijacking threat from Osama Bin Laden's terrorist network before Sept. 11, it may seem that the relevant questions would focus on what the administration knew and whether Congress and the public should have been informed. But in less than a day, expert spinners on both sides are already twisting the issue far beyond the facts.

First, consider what leading Democrats had to say about this revelation. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle stated, "Clearly, there is a lot more to be learned before we can come to any final conclusion about all of the facts, but it clearly raises some very important questions that have to be asked and have to be answered. Why did it take eight months for us to receive this information? And secondly, what specific actions were taken by the White House in response?"

House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt offered a very similar evaluation, saying, "I think what we have to do now is to find out what the president, what the White House, knew about the events leading up to 9/11, when they knew it and, most importantly, what was done about it at that time."

These are tough questions, but well within the bounds of reasonable debate. But you wouldn't know that from the words of many Republicans and conservative commentators, who attacked the legitimacy of any such criticism of the Bush administration.

"The real story here is a bunch of Democrats scrambling for anything to put a dent in the president's popularity," commented Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., according to the Washington Post. Bond is also quoted in the New York Times as saying "[Democrats'] unspoken implication is that the president knew these attacks were coming and did nothing." Vice President Dick Cheney similarly suggested Thursday night that Democrats "need to be very cautious not to seek political advantage by making incendiary suggestions, as were made by some today, that the White House had advance information that would have prevented the tragic attacks of 9/11."

Bond's ability to divine Democrats' "unspoken implication" is apparently shared by some conservative commentators. On Thursday night's "Crossfire," co-host Robert Novak commented, "There's a kind of implication, a nasty implication in a lot of the things that somehow the president, I don't know, wanted this to happen."

Even first lady Laura Bush offered a similar insinuation, telling the Associated Press that she thinks "it's sad to prey upon the emotions of people as if there were something we could have done to stop" the attacks.

Nowhere, however, do any of these politicians or pundits present a shred of evidence actually demonstrating that Democrats are making such an implication, implicitly or explicitly. By suggesting a hidden meaning in Democrats' words, however, they're attempting to delegitimize any questions their opponents may raise about the administration.

The scariest attempt to suppress any dissent, though, came from Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, who outrageously asserted that those who question the president are comparing him to Osama bin Laden.

Next Page: Spin from the left -- and from Salon

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