Too chickenshit to schedule an impromptu press conference in his preferred Thursday prime time slot and incur the wrath of Apprentice fans tuned in for the finale, Preznit Photo-op will appear during prime time Tuesday (April 13, 2004) instead. He will pretend to take penetrating pre-screened questions from hard-hitting reporters he refers to as Stretch, BooBoo, Dr. ‘Zah, Animal and Buns of Steel. The drama comes in when the Preznit tries to deliver his pre-rehearsed focus-tested answers without slipping into candor or flashing some man-boob during a wardrobe malfunction. Described in reports as a rare prime time press conference, also rare in this administration is what’s known as an actual press conference, a quaint ancient tradition involving “journalists” questioning government officials about matters more relevant to the public’s needs than to the government officials’ needs. (Who knew?)

A note to cynics: the White House Department of Hooey was too modest to come come up with the idea of abusing the public airwaves for a choreographed, flattering presidential appearance. Maverick John McCain made the suggestion while munching on a homemade cream puff baked by Department of Hooey intern Tim Russert on Sunday (04/11/04) on Press the Meat):

MR. RUSSERT: Should the president address the nation?

SEN. McCAIN: If not an address to the nation, certainly a press conference, I would recommend.

Nor did Hooey come up with the idea to deny the 911 commission the 60-day extension required to offset Bush’s stonewalling and complete their report. (That was GOP polecat Dennis Hastert.) Public outcry quickly inspired the administration flip flop on that position, resulting in an additional flip flop on releasing one page of the Aug 06/2001 PDB, and a possible future flip flop on releasing the remaining 10/11ths of it.

The following is from CNN’s Late Edition. Carie Lemack’s mother Judy LaRoc was aboard AA Flight 11 when it crashed into the north WTC tower on 911.

CANDY CROWLEY: Is it possible that they did do all that could reasonably be expected? But in hindsight, of course, you’d rather they’d gone in a different direction.

CARIE LEMACK: Well, I’d look back at a book that was written by Bob Woodward, in which he quotes CIA Director George Tenet. Apparently on September 11th, that morning, he was breakfasting, and when he was told that two planes had been flown into the World Trade Center, he said, “That has to be bin Laden and those guys in the flight schools.”

If Mr. Tenet knew, and Dr. Rice didn’t know, and the president didn’t know, that causes some concern for me. We were also told on Thursday at the hearings, by Dr. Rice, that there were, as we see in this PDB, there were 70 FBI investigations. But Commissioner Gorelick said that, after interviewing thousands of people at the FBI, none of them knew about it.

So, there’s still a lot of information that hasn’t come out. And to say that everything has been done spectacularly — that this administration would have done nothing different, that does upset me, because I can tell you this: My mother was a CEO of a company, and if she had failures, or her direct reports had failures, then she was accountable. And we have not seen accountability in this administration.

I agree, I’m very happy that this PDB was declassified. But I have to tell you that it took the work of many family members many years. We fought for 14 months against the Bush administration, for this commission. He did not want to have it. When we finally got a commission, we had to fight for it to have subpoena power. We then had to fight to have it extended. We’ve been coming up against roadblock after roadblock from this administration. … I’d have a lot more faith if they hadn’t been so adamantly opposed to finding the truth. (04/11/04 CNN Late Edition)

(Extended excerpt in the extension)

Alternate viewing choices: Stanley Cup Playoffs (check your regional listings); your loved ones, reading the entire 04/11/04 CNN Late Edition transcript with LeMack and Richard Ben-Veniste.

CANDY CROWLEY: Is it possible that they did do all that could reasonably be expected? But in hindsight, of course, you’d rather they’d gone in a different direction.

CARIE LEMACK: Well, I’d look back at a book that was written by Bob Woodward, in which he quotes CIA Director George Tenet. Apparently on September 11th, that morning, he was breakfasting, and when he was told that two planes had been flown into the World Trade Center, he said, “That has to be bin Laden and those guys in the flight schools.”

If Mr. Tenet knew, and Dr. Rice didn’t know, and the president didn’t know, that causes some concern for me.

We were also told on Thursday at the hearings, by Dr. Rice, that there were, as we see in this PDB, there were 70 FBI investigations. But Commissioner Gorelick said that, after interviewing thousands of people at the FBI, none of them knew about it.

So, there’s still a lot of information that hasn’t come out. And to say that everything has been done spectacularly — that this administration would have done nothing different, that does upset me, because I can tell you this: My mother was a CEO of a company, and if she had failures, or her direct reports had failures, then she was accountable. And we have not seen accountability in this administration.

I agree, I’m very happy that this PDB was declassified. But I have to tell you that it took the work of many family members many years. We fought for 14 months against the Bush administration, for this commission. He did not want to have it. When we finally got a commission, we had to fight for it to have subpoena power. We then had to fight to have it extended. We’ve been coming up against roadblock after roadblock from this administration.

I’m glad that we’ve finally gotten to this point, where we are getting more information out, but I have to tell you, it has not been easy, and I’d have a lot more faith if they hadn’t been so adamantly opposed to finding the truth. […]

I think it’s clear the government has some, as Dr. Rice would say, systemic issues that need to be addressed. That is not a partisanship issue. Safety is not a partisanship issue.

Dr. Rice also said that we aren’t safe right now. She does not say that she feels safe. And so, therefore, I have to question whether or not I feel safe. … [A]ccording to the FAA’s red team, which is the group of individuals who legally tries to breach airport security, 95 percent of weapons still get through and can get on planes.

My mother was murdered on a plane. I would like to know that when I get on a plane or when other Americans get on planes that we have made it safer. And it seems at this case the evidence shows that we have not yet done that.

But I’m very hopeful that we can. That’s why so many of the family members are working so hard to make sure this commission is not a partisan commission and does get down to the truth and that those recommendations that will come out, hopefully on July 26th, assuming that the White House will clear the report, those recommendations do get implemented immediately to make sure that Americans are safer. (04/11/04 CNN Late Edition)