Nosey Online

A Google search for "Scott McClellan unprecedented" yields 7,020 hits. For a refresher, here's a common quote from Scott during a Feb. 24 '04 press briefing.

[The 9/11 commission's] work is very important. And that's why we've been working with them in an unprecedented way to make sure they have the information they need to complete their work.

So, does being unprecedented include keeping important documents from reaching the commission?

The commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks announced yesterday that it has identified 69 documents from the Clinton era that the Bush White House withheld from investigators and which include references to al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and other issues relevant to the panel's work...

Yesterday's announcement came just 14 hours before national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was scheduled to testify publicly in front of the 10-member bipartisan panel, formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. The commission has feuded for months with the White House over access to documents and witnesses, and Rice's agreement to testify came after weeks of refusals from White House lawyers.

So I guess being "unprecedented" involves secrecy and stone-walling.

The 9/11 commission was formed in order to get the bottom of what happened to our country on that fateful day. They have one of the most important responsibilities in the history of our nation. This is as important (if not more than) the investigations into Pearl Harbor and the JFK assassination.

The commission is just part of the craziness in Washington right now.

"I've never seen the atmosphere that exists in Washington right now; it's the nastiest I've ever seen it," said [Commission Chairman Thomas H.] Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey who has been out of politics for more than a decade.

Sigh.

I am optimistic that we can change the tone in Washington, D.C.

So says President-elect George W. Bush on Dec. 13, 2000.

We're at a crossroads right now. Either we learn from past mistakes or we ignore the past altogether.