Political Quotes

“I would like to close on an unrelated topic. I am in the process of reading a book, ``Against All Enemies,'' by Richard Clarke, and as I started reading the book I was struck by the first chapter. You may remember Mr. Clarke served as the terrorism adviser and coordinator under President Clinton and then again under this President Bush. He has been working for some 30 years as a professional in this field. He has made some statements over the last 10 days which have become a source of headlines across America. The administration has spent more time since he first appeared on ``60 Minutes'' 7 or 8 days ago discrediting Richard Clarke than I have ever seen spent on any other individual. It is clear what he has said is painful to them. What he said is he believes this administration-- the Bush administration, and the Clinton administration for that matter--could have done a better job in anticipating the threat of al- Qaida. He says in his book, of course, that he thinks they were too focused on Iraq, even though there was no connection between Iraq, Saddam Hussein, and 9/11 and the al-Qaida terrorists responsible for it. These statements have enraged the White House. They have sent everyone out--from the President on down--stating publicly that Richard Clarke is out to sell books. If you read the first chapter of this book, you will get a much different impression of this Richard Clarke, who to many is just another faceless bureaucrat working in the White House.”