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Enemy Within by Peter Beinart Post date: 04.22.04 Issue date: 05.03.04 Republicans say they are dismayed by the partisanship of the 9/11 Commission. And, if you define partisanship as criticism of the Bush administration--the working definition on much of the right--they are exactly right. But, if you define partisanship the way it's traditionally understood--as placing party interests above national ones--then the 9/11 Commission hasn't been very partisan at all. And that's what really irks the GOP: They're dismayed that the 9/11 Commission isn't partisan enough. Because the less partisan the Commission is, the harder it is to discredit its findings.
So conservatives have tried to gin up Democratic bogeymen at every turn. They feasted on Democrat Richard Ben-Veniste's obnoxious questioning of Condoleezza Rice--a genuine partisan moment! They obsessed over John Ashcroft's accusation against Commissioner (and former Clinton Deputy Attorney General) Jamie Gorelick--a partisan face-off! They even tried appending the partisan attack-dog label to Democratic Commissioner Bob Kerrey, a difficult trick given that he famously backed the Iraq war and loathed Bill Clinton. Their purpose is clear: to turn the most important national security investigation of our time into a "Crossfire"-style he-said, she-said signifying nothing. Who says Republicans don't like relativism?
The problem is that the important he-said, she-said isn't between Republicans and Democrats. It's between the Bush administration and career CIA and FBI officials. In some cases, it's even between the Bush administration and itself. Consider a few examples. http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040503&s=trb050304 |
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