Gov. George Pataki on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf “The Bearded Wonder” Blitzer a few minutes ago:

The 9-11 Commission issued its report at least three years after the attacks because they took time to look at all the facts.*

Well, the Commission’s report was issued nearly three years (July 22, 2004) after the attacks, but it sure as fuck wasn’t because of that:

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (known as the 9-11 Commission) was created by Public Law 107-306, signed by the President on November 27, 2002. P.L. 107-306 originally required the Commission to report to the President and Congress 18 months after enactment, or no later than May 27, 2004.

Given that Pataki’s response came in the context of “there will be time down the road” to look at what went wrong, we’re guessing that Republicans’ idea of the right time is “How about never? Is never good for you?”

* We’ll update the exact quote when the transcript is up.