Calling Cheney's Bluff

Big Brother:

It's getting kind of fun listening to and reading Bush and Cheney continuing to claim a "longstanding relationship" between Iraq and Al Qaeda. They are starting to look and sound foolish. Well, I reckon they've gone beyond "starting to" but I've been giving them the benefit of the doubt -- yes, I have! -- and have been listening to their story through a good Republican filter. And here's why. The administration claims that there is not a "wedge" between what they say and what the commission staff report said. On CNBC on Thursday night, when "Capital Report" co-host Gloria Borger asked Cheney if he had information that the 9/11 commission did not, he replied "Probably" (as Ms. Borger said on "Washington Week" the following evening, "And that clears it up.")

Even so! 9/11 Commission chairman Thomas Kean and Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton were models of propriety on Sunday morning when they were interviewed by George Stephanopoulos on This Week. They both maintained that the staff report does not disagree with the administration, but that they may have a different understanding on the nature of the ties between Al Qaeda and Saddam's Iraq.

I say, Fair enough. But they -- in utter fairness -- say that they expect the vice president to make available the information he has so that they can clarify the commission's position in their final report. It's about the most polite "gotcha!" I've seen in politics in a long time.

But here's why it's all so sublime. Maybe Bush and Cheney are right and everybody else is wrong. Maybe they do have more information. Maybe they will make it available to the 9/11 commission, and there will be a shift in its position on the Al Qaeda/Iraq connection in the final report. But even if this all happens, Bush and Cheney have subjected themselves to at least a week of looking foolish. And even if they do release more evidence, they will go from looking foolish to looking secretive and obstructive. Either way, the perception of Bush's credibility takes a blow. And, as they say, in politics, perception is the truth.