The first rule of holes is that, when you find yourself in one, you stop digging.
Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall March 26, 2004 09:53 PM (Printable Format):
“I never cease to be amazed at these guys’ ability to outpace my ability to impute bad faith to them.”
Allegations of perjury, denials of meetings that the president is later forced to admit happened, the national security advisor refusing to testify under oath, but agreeable to unsworn testimony, accusations of blood money by profiting from book sales . . . . the wheels seem to be coming off the wagon here.
Clarke could easily derail the profiteering charge by donating his profits to the 9/11 survivors fund: he is the only present or former government official to offer an apology, for which he is accused of “arrogance.”
Very little of this seems believable, at least not in the context of a democracy. A banana republic or strongman regime, perhaps, but not the world’s only remaining superpower.