Dems walk out on Pres & VP

Sounds like a staged move to me. "I don't have time to listen to you, I have to go introduce Algore at a speaking engagement." What are they, seventh graders?

What's an Algore?

Oh geez. It's the conservative's pet name for the former VP - parody on Lord Dracula (or whatever his name was) and his loyal assistant Egor...
:::::::::ducks:::::::::

Absolutely nothing. This happens all the time in Washington, as it did when other's were testifying earlier at this same commission.

Of course I wasn't there, so I don't have the imtimate knowledge that foxfyre somehow has, but is it possible Mr. Lee Hamilton and Mr. Bob Kerrey grew weary of George and Dick's slick answers and I don't recalls that likely peppered the appearance before 9/11 Committee?

What?! They didn't stay around for the climax of the show? Edgar Bergen drinking a glass of water while Charley McCarthy sings, "Onward Christian Soldiers."

Canadian Prime Minister to meet with Lee Hamilton & Bush
The following (in bold) is why Lee Hamilton had to leave the Bush-Cheney session early---not as Foxfyre described it.---BBB

Prime Minister to visit Washington, D.C.
NEWS RELEASE
April 23, 2004
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Paul Martin will visit Washington, D.C. on April 29 and 30, 2004 for meetings with US President George W. Bush and congressional and other non-governmental leaders.

This will be the second face-to-face meeting between the Prime Minister and President, following on their January 13 meeting in Monterrey, Mexico.

"Because the Canada-U.S. relationship is so central to our respective interests, we must develop a more sophisticated relationship based on informed dialogue, shared values and respect for our differences," said the Prime Minister. "While I do not anticipate major breakthroughs, I look forward to advancing issues that are of critical importance to Canadians as we place our working relationship on a firm footing."

On April 29, the Prime Minister will deliver a keynote address to the "Director's Forum", a gathering jointly hosted by the Center for Global Development and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Following the address, the Prime Minister will participate in a roundtable discussion with Washington think tank representatives, hosted by Lee Hamilton, President and Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. On Thursday afternoon, the Prime Minister will attend a series of meetings with Senate and House leaders.

The Prime Minister will participate in a breakfast roundtable on April 30 with representatives of several non-governmental organizations (NGOs), hosted by the Centre for Global Development. The discussion will be an opportunity to exchange innovative ideas on global development, including how NGOs can help further the recommendations of the UN Commission on Private Sector and Development, and the role that they can play in advocating for the provision of lower cost medicines for developing countries.

The Prime Minister will then meet with President Bush in the Oval Office and continue their discussions over a lunch in the White House. The Prime Minister will raise a number of bilateral issues, including BSE and softwood lumber. In both cases, he will press for a resumption of normal trade. The Prime Minister will also update President Bush on Canada's substantial progress on national security. The two leaders will discuss ongoing border cooperation, the global campaign against terrorism, the environment, and exchange views on a wide range of multilateral issues, including Haiti, Afghanistan, the Middle East, as well as the upcoming G-8 Summit at Sea Island, Georgia.

The Prime Minister will be accompanied in Washington by Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham, International Trade Minister Jim Peterson, Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Bob Speller and Scott Brison, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister for Canada-U.S. Relations.

I heard this morning that all the 9/11 Commisssion members were allowed by Lord Bush to take their own notes, but their notes were carefully vetted by White House staff for "accuracy."

LOL!!! Accuracy -- making sure Bush and Cheney were portrayed favorably is more like it.

BBB, the 9/11 Commission has known for weeks that Bush would be testifying--it was demanded you know. It would seem that either the session with the Commission or the other schedules would have been arranged to accommodate 'prior engagements'. I have said nothing other than these two guys walked out and, regardless of the reason, unless they cleared it with the President in advance, it was disrespectful.

Actually I heard on MSNBC (will look up later if asked) that they did inform Bush and Cheney before hand they had to leave "two hours in." So now is not disrespectful?

Algore

Yes Revel, if they informed the President 'two hours in" that they were leaving for another engagement, that is disrespectful. If they advised him of the conflict at the time the testimony was arranged, that would have been fine.

Well foxfrye, as you enlightened us on another thread today, only YOU make any sense here, so why don't we just turn the entire forum over to you as well?

We can post topics and only YOU can reply.

Sounds good? :wink:

What are you talking about? Is there a protocol, specified and written in some document, which says "When a Pres is going to attend a commission hearing, all commission members must inform the white house, if they find themselves unable to attend in whole or in part, within a period of no less than 60 hours"?

Blatham it was these guys that were adament that the president testify. That they lacked the courtesy to arrange the testimony or their own schedules so that they could be there to hear it is, in my opinion, a lack of respect. And yes, I do believe the President of the United States is entitled to respect.

But what opinions hold this was disrespectful? What credence ought we to give to those individuals? This is so entirely subjective (thus my post above) that a mere claim it was rude has no value. As I said before, such absences occured during the testimony of previously interviewed individuals at this same commission.

I suppose its perception. And the fact of all the bru ha ha that prompted the president to concede to testify. And they who demanded that he do so then appear to show contempt for him by their disinterest in what he had to say. And the fact that he is the President and my personal sense of protocol is that the office itself is deserving of a measure of particular respect. Call it silly American protocol. Maybe its different in other places.

But I would have been incensed had somebody walked out on any previous president under the same circumstances.

You are right, it is all subjective.

I don't know why foxfyre is making such a fuss about Hamilton and Kerrey departing early.

After all, foxfyre has been one of the leading voices suggesting the 9/11 Commission was "partisan, a waste of time, useless," and even going so far as to say it should be "disbanded."

If the Commission is so unimportant, what difference does it make if Hamilton and Kerrey leave early or show up at all?

You can't have it both ways.

Sept. 11 commissioners thought they were limited to 2 hours
Sept. 11 commissioners thought they were limited to 2 hours with Bush
4/30/04

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Sept. 11 commission said Friday it went into its private interview with President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney with the understanding it would be restricted to about two hours.

The disclosure, which came amid questions as to why two Democratic commissioners left the three-hour meeting early, appears to contradict the suggestion by the Bush administration in March that it wouldn't be setting time limits amounting to one hour each for Bush and Cheney.

"We knew when visiting with a sitting president we wouldn't get a full day or a half day," said spokesman Al Felzenberg in explaining why the panel agreed to the scheduling.

"We set a date and time convenient to the White House."

The Democrats, Lee Hamilton and Bob Kerrey, left Thursday's meeting to attend previously scheduled appointments. Hamilton, who is chairman of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, attended a luncheon at the centre honouring Prime Minister Paul Martin; Kerrey left for a meeting with a senator to discuss appropriations for New School University, of which he is president.

Both explained Friday they allowed their appointments to stand because they expected the meeting, which began at 9:30 a.m. EDT, to conclude by about 11:30 a.m. Their early departures were not intended to snub the president nor abdicate their responsibility as commissioners, they said.

"I don't think I failed in my duties to be a good commissioner by giving up a tail end of a meeting," Kerrey said on CNN's Wolf Blitzer Reports. Kerrey said he considered cancelling the appointment Thursday morning but commission chairman Tom Kean said there was no need because "we'll be done by 11:30."

In March, the commission set up separate private interviews with former president Bill Clinton and vice-president Al Gore without time restrictions. Earlier this month, Clinton met the full panel for four hours; Gore was interviewed for three hours.

The panel met resistance from Bush and Cheney, who only wanted to meet two commissioners, rather than the full panel, in separate meetings of one hour each.

Bush appeared to back off the time limit, however, after Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry accused him of stonewalling investigations of the terrorist attacks and U.S. intelligence failures. Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said the president would answer all questions without "watching the clock."

Under pressure from the commission to meet all 10 members of the panel, Bush later agreed, on the condition he be interviewed jointly with Cheney.

Felzenberg said commissioners were able to ask all the questions they had but declined to say whether only two hours of questions were prepared beforehand. The panel originally asked to meet at 9 a.m. because of Hamilton's scheduling conflict but eventually agreed to a 9:30 a.m. start.

"They asked the questions they thought the president could be helpful with," Felzenberg said.