Thomas Daschle: “I have a simple request for the President today: Please ask the people around you to stop the character attacks they are…”

“I have a simple request for the President today: Please ask the people around you to stop the character attacks they are waging against Richard Clarke. Ask them to stop their attempts to conceal information and confuse facts. Ask them to stop the long effort that has made the 9/11 Commission's work more difficult than it should be. Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with Mr. Clarke's facts, he set an eloquent example for all of us yesterday. He acknowledged to the families of the victims of September 11 that their Government had failed them. He accepted responsibility for September 11. He made himself accountable and he tried, in my view, to help us understand what happened in the months and years before September 11. I could not be more disappointed in the White House response. They have known for months what Mr. Clarke was going to say. Instead of dealing with it factually, they have launched a shrill attack to destroy Mr. Clarke's credibility. I know something about those attacks. On several occasions, I have been on the receiving end of the White House broadsides. I saw the White House ferocity firsthand. I saw the people around the President attack John McCain when he ran for President in 2000. I will never forget the distortions, the recklessness, and the viciousness of those attacks. They were wrong and they impugned one of our great patriots.”