Today’s Howler

Sommerby finds something of a contradiction:

RICE V. BUSH: Thanks to an alert e-mailer, here’s one more highlight from Bush’s press conference. Our reader emitted those low, mordant chuckles when President Bush said the obvious:

BUSH (4/13/04): Now, in the, what’s called the PDB, there was a warning about bin Laden’s desires on America.

There was a warning! Why did our reader find that amusing? Because five days earlier, Condi Rice had hotly insisted that there wasn’t a warning in that same PDB! We all recall the heartfelt testimony she gave to her nation, under oath

RICE (4/8/04): Commissioner, this was not a warning. This was a historic memo.

Oh, what a difference five days makes! For the record, why did Bush say there was a warning, while Rice kept insisting “this wasn’t a warning?” Simple! Bush was speaking straightforward English. Rice was deceiving the American public and making a joke of her oath.

As my father knew all too well in my younger days, an ever-shifting story is a hallmark of deception. In other words, if the administration intends to successfully deceive, then it should first get its story straight.

AB