Clinton Testifies Before 9/11 Commission

by Mary

Bill Clinton testified before the 9/11 Commission yesterday in a private meeting after Condi's much talked about appearance. Comments from the commission members of both parties largely commended his willingness and helpfulness in trying to understand what led to the 9/11 attack.

Mr. Clinton met "in closed private session" on Thursday afternoon with all 10 members of the bipartisan commission at its request, the panel said in a terse statement issued after it was all over. The encounter, in an anonymous government office building off the Mall, lasted about four hours, and the commission said it "found the former president forthcoming and responsive to its questions."

During his appearance, Mr. Clinton told commissioners that "he's going back in his mind over and over again about whether there's anything else he could have done and how he might have done it" said Tom Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey and the chairman of the commission.

"But a lot of what we talked to him about was actually the inner workings of presidency as well as many of the classified briefings we've been able to read," Mr. Kean said in an appearance on Thursday evening on "Newshour" with Jim Lehrer. "We asked him some pretty detailed questions on those. And he was just totally frank — totally frank, totally honest, and forthcoming."

Senator Slade Gordon (R-WA) mentioned, "President Clinton has done a lot of thinking about issues like this since he left the presidency."

Remember what it was like to have a President that actually thought about the issues, was willing to adjust his thinking when new evidence came in, wasn't ruled by his gut or his sycophantic underlings, and didn't have to have his Vice President hold his hand while testifying?