It's well known that this book has been in "vetting" for at least the better part of a year. That makes it one or two years. He also talked extensively to Ron Suskind, much farther back, read "One Percent Doctrine" and see. It isn't that he should be one hundred percent believed. It's that he should be read and digested before dismissal. And it remains true that, as I had posted earlier, if what he says is true, then Dick Cheney simply lied about the conversation.

I, for one, want to see what he has to say because I have never believed the "The CIA made me do it" story, nor the "The CIA and FBI made all the mistakes that were made before 9/11" story. I think the agencies were scapegoated, and I want to know whether Tenet can shed light on it, even if it is in between whoppers.

Count, on a daily basis, the number of times any official (esp. Cheney and Bartlett) in the Administration uses the expressions "I think the American people want..." or "I don't think the American people want..."

In reality, they not only don't know, they also don't care what "the American people want."

But, as Howard Kurtz said on Bill Moyer's show the other night, "When one of those people wants to speak, our job is to provide a platform for them. I don't mind a bit, it's part of the job."

'member when her boyfriend appeared in blackface on stage? She thought it was funny, all the caucasoid media folks put on whiteface for three weeks in horror.

Anybody wanna call Whoopi a racist? (hint: people came pretty damn close at the time)

Context. Human beings cannot even see what's in front of them without it. It's built in to everything and everybody. What does that mean about stuff taken out of it?

Great post! Really, it took my breath away for a second. I have felt it too, though sometimes it seems a weak and thready pulse.

to show my age,

Little Darlin' it's been a long cold lonely winter...

He has put the actual documents of the Iranian diplomatic overtures to the U.S. on his blog website

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/

Sorry for the "Times Select" aspect. It is possible that this page (the Iranian final draft) isn't protected. I can't tell from my machine, except by a little logo at the top of my browser.

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/opinion/20070429_iran-memo-expurgated.pdf

Somehow, I have a feeling this will be important. I wonder who the "Joe Wilson" was this time, and what will happen to the "fair game" spouse.

I think Powell and Tenet, and to some extent the media in the early days of this administration, suffered from the belief that the office makes the man. How many times, and from how many circles, did we hear back in 2003 that "they might lie, but they wouldn't lie about something as important as war"?

The office makes the man theory all came from Johnson and the Civil Rights Act, the idea that even a segregationist, once made President, would do the right thing, because of the responsibility of acting on behalf of their country.

These people, like the press, like Powell, like Tenet, have less excuse, Reagan had already disproved that theory by using his office to roll back affirmative action.

But I think that many, and some who should and, deep down, did, know better, just couldn't bring themselves to believe that the case for war was fabricated, because they couldn't believe that someone would want war that much, and that on top of that, they had been loyal and supported such people. And so, as someone has already pointed out, we get that quote from Requiem for a Dream: never underestimate the power of denial.

I don't think Tenet is inately a bad man (or, for that matter Powell), I think he can't believe it was he who did the banal evil.

then why didn't we leave?

Bagram, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib,

We need a President who isn't a dweeb.

Yoo, Miers, Bisby, Alberto Gonzales,

Who needs the law when you have morales.

Stem cells, pre-borns, creationism,

Life begins with a manly jism.

Tax cuts, Blackwater, deficit spending,

Money for all, and a war never-ending.

Did anyone else notice that in the aftermath of the Bill Moyer's show, the New York Times 1) pulled out of the Washington Correspondents Association annual dinner, and 2) Appointed Clark Hoyt to be their public editor (ombudsman)?

It happened so fast, it was almost like someone high up (an owner, perhaps?) demanded to know what was happening to the reputation of the paper, and that something be done about it.

I can understand it was not your feet in the stirrups. I can understand it is not your story to tell. I can understand it was not your decision to make.

You lost me on the "It was not your pain." Absolute bullshit.