People will be talking about the Richard Clark interview (CBS) for a long time to come. It was more devastating to Bush then anything that MoveOn or anyone else has produced. I wish we could impeach politicians for lack of vision and negligence. But since we can’t, there is only one thing to do: vote them out.

I know Talking Points Memo is all over this (via Rafe Colburn), but I want to pass on the same quote as him too:

“We had a terrorist organization that was going after us! Al Qaeda. That should have been the first item on the agenda. And it was pushed back and back and back for months.

“There’s a lot of blame to go around, and I probably deserve some blame, too. But on January 24th, 2001, I wrote a memo to Condoleezza Rice asking for, urgently — underlined urgently — a Cabinet-level meeting to deal with the impending al Qaeda attack. And that urgent memo– wasn’t acted on.

“I blame the entire Bush leadership for continuing to work on Cold War issues when they back in power in 2001. It was as though they were preserved in amber from when they left office eight years earlier. They came back. They wanted to work on the same issues right away: Iraq, Star Wars. Not new issues, the new threats that had developed over the preceding eight years.”

Clarke finally got his meeting about al Qaeda in April, three months after his urgent request. But it wasn’t with the president or cabinet. It was with the second-in-command in each relevant department.

For the Pentagon, it was Paul Wolfowitz.

Clarke relates, “I began saying, ‘We have to deal with bin Laden; we have to deal with al Qaeda.’ Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, said, ‘No, no, no. We don’t have to deal with al Qaeda. Why are we talking about that little guy? We have to talk about Iraqi terrorism against the United States.’

“And I said, ‘Paul, there hasn’t been any Iraqi terrorism against the United States in eight years!’ And I turned to the deputy director of the CIA and said, ‘Isn’t that right?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, that’s right. There is no Iraqi terrorism against the United States.”

Clarke went on to add, “There’s absolutely no evidence that Iraq was supporting al Qaeda, ever.”

More over at Oliver Willis’s.

Looks like tonight’s report is going to be huge.

A person who I know, who shall remain nameless, told me not to blame her for the current mess in Washington – she didn’t vote – and has no plans to either. Why vote and get involved when it’s always the lesser of the two evils? I asked if she thought we’d be in Iraq if Gore was President. The answer from others around us was a solid no. I said that whenever we choose not to vote – we make an implicit vote for the most powerful, intrenched candidate. Things became kinda heated. And it was agreed to simply not talk about politics. Very disappointing.

Over heard in this Metafilter thread and very applicable:

Democracy does not ‘take root’ (or ‘flourish’ or ‘grow’ for that matter).

…Democracy is viable only so long as the general public demands it.

As soon as the public ceases to be active/activist, democracy is destroyed by the power-seekers. These power-seekers will manipulate the laws, the media, and the political process to work in their favour. The end result is inevitable: democracy is destroyed in practice, if not in name.

If you desire a democratic government, you must participate in a meaningful, deliberate, and active manner.

The only way to get the government to take notice is to vote. Besides, the difference between the lessor of two evils can be a great one. It’s the difference that counts. Whatever your preference… get involved.

Is there a more honorable, principaled politican in Washington (Washington Post)? I don’t think so.