[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5171-5172]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S MISTREATMENT OF RICHARD CLARKE AND OTHERS

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I have a simple request for the President 
today: Please ask the people around you to stop the character attacks 
they are waging against Richard Clarke. Ask them to stop their attempts 
to conceal information and confuse facts. Ask them to stop the long 
effort that has made the 9/11 Commission's work more difficult than it 
should be.
  Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with Mr. Clarke's 
facts, he set an eloquent example for all of us yesterday. He 
acknowledged to the families of the victims of September 11 that their 
Government had failed them. He accepted responsibility for September 
11. He made himself accountable and he tried, in my view, to help us 
understand what happened in the months and years before September 11. I 
could not be more disappointed in the White House response. They have 
known for months what Mr. Clarke was going to say. Instead of dealing 
with it factually, they have launched a shrill attack to destroy Mr. 
Clarke's credibility.
  I know something about those attacks.
  On several occasions, I have been on the receiving end of the White 
House broadsides. I saw the White House ferocity firsthand. I saw the 
people around the President attack John McCain when he ran for 
President in 2000. I will never forget the distortions, the 
recklessness, and the viciousness of those attacks. They were wrong and 
they impugned one of our great patriots.
  I saw the same viciousness 2 years ago when Senator Max Cleland, a 
man who served when called during the Vietnam war, had his reputation 
and patriotism smeared in his reelection campaign. The idea that a man 
who gave so much to his country could be smeared by those who are 
willing to give so little haunted me then as it haunts me now. There 
are some things that simply ought not to be done in politics, and that 
line was crossed by attacks on both Senator McCain and Senator Cleland.
  Last year, I watched the people around the President set their sights 
on Ambassador Joe Wilson when he stepped forward to tell the truth 
about the President's claims on Iraq, Niger, and uranium. The White 
House did not battle Ambassador Wilson on the facts. Instead, they put 
his wife's life in danger by disclosing publicly that she was a deep 
cover agent for the CIA. That was a grossly irresponsible act done for 
the worst of reasons--to avoid accountability and unwelcome political 
consequences. It ought never have happened. It was shameful, and it 
crossed a line that had never been crossed before.
  Now when I watch what the people around the President are trying to 
do to Richard Clarke, I think it is past time to say enough is enough.
  The President came to Washington 4 years ago promising to change the

[[Page 5172]]

tone. The people around him have done that. They have changed it for 
the worse. They are doing things that should never be done and have 
never been done before. What they need to do, what we all need to do, 
is to put politics aside and put the American people and their security 
first.
  I know how difficult that is in an election year, but we all, every 
one of us needs to do exactly that. Some things are more important than 
politics, and September 11 ought to be at the top of the list. We need 
the facts on September 11, not spin and not character assassination. We 
need this administration and everyone involved to follow Mr. Clarke's 
example and accept responsibility and accountability.
  We need Condoleezza Rice, who seems to have time to appear on every 
television show, to make time to appear publicly before the 9/11 
Commission. She is not constrained by precedent from doing that, as the 
White House has argued. As the Congressional Research Service 
documented, two of her predecessors have given testimony in open 
session on matters much less important than September 11.
  I have reluctantly reached the conclusion that what really constrains 
Ms. Rice's full cooperation is political consideration. The September 
11 families deserve better than that and, just as importantly, our 
country deserves better.
  There is only one person who can change what is going on at the White 
House, and that is the President. So I appeal to President Bush to 
change it. He deserves better than the tactics his staff are using and, 
as I have said, the September 11 families and our country deserve 
better, too.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. REID. Would the Senator allow me to ask him a question through 
the Chair?
  Mr. DASCHLE. Yes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Mr. REID. I have listened to the statement of the Democratic leader. 
I acknowledge what happened to Senator McCain and the tragedy with Max 
Cleland, but one thing I did not hear the leader mention was what was 
done to Paul O'Neill when he published his book, ``The Price of 
Loyalty,'' a man who is a certified, card-carrying conservative 
Republican, one of the great businessmen in the history of our country, 
who in effect was trashed for what he thought was good for the country.
  I heard the Senator describe Joe Wilson and what was done to his wife 
and Richard Clarke, but the one thing the leader undersold--in keeping 
with the modesty of the minority leader and I want the record to 
reflect--is what has happened to the leader. By virtue of the fact that 
48 other Democrats, in a period of over 10 years, have selected the 
Senator from South Dakota as our leader, as a result of that the 
Senator does things for the caucus. I am sure the caucus is not 100-
percent headed in the right direction, but we do our best to try to, 
and when there is ever anything that is done that is not in keeping 
with what this White House wants, the leader is attacked, his family is 
attacked, his religion is attacked, his ethics are attacked. For those 
of us who serve with the Senator from South Dakota, we know what a 
wonderful family he has, what a loving family he has, what a moral 
person he is, and what a good leader he is.
  I want the record to reflect that the Senator from South Dakota has 
tremendously undersold--all of these people we have mentioned who have 
been brutally assaulted, in my opinion, do not compare with what has 
happened to Tom Daschle himself.
  I want the Senator to know that the entire caucus stands behind him 
for the great leader he has been, and we apologize for what has 
happened to him by virtue of the fact that he is our leader. If he were 
not our leader, someone else would be attacked; their religion would be 
attacked; their families would be attacked. Speaking for 48 other 
Democrats, we all admire and respect the work the Senator from South 
Dakota has done and are sorry that he has had to take the blows he has 
by being one of the great leaders in the history of our country.
  Mr. DASCHLE. I thank the Senator from Nevada for his very kind words, 
and I thank my colleagues for yielding the floor to accommodate my 
leader time this morning.
  I yield the floor.

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