Posted by
Always To The Right on Friday, August 21, 2009 4:57:00 PM
It didn’t take more than a few hours for key Bush administration
officials to respond to allegations forthcoming from Tom Ridge’s
memoirs that they had pressured him to raise terrorist threat levels
for the 2004 re-election campaign. Not only did they deny it in the
strongest terms, some of them explained to Politico that the process was specifically designed to prevent
that kind of political manipulation, and expressed puzzlement over how
Ridge could have been “pressured” in a process that was deliberately
passive to the NSC and President. For that matter, a New York Times report seems to indicate that Ridge wasn’t entirely sure, either
So what did Ridge see that made him feel pressured? Even Ridge seems unsure (emphases mine):
The most sensational assertion was the pre-election
debate in 2004 about the threat level, first reported by U.S. News
& World Report. Mr. Ridge writes that the bin Laden tape alone did
not justify a change in the nation’s security posture but describes “a
vigorous, some might say dramatic, discussion” on Oct. 30 to do so.
“There was absolutely no support for that position within our department. None,” he writes. “I wondered,
‘Is this about security or politics?’ Post-election analysis
demonstrated a significant increase in the president’s approval rating
in the days after the raising of the threat level.”
Mr. Ridge provides no evidence that politics motivated the discussion.
Until now, he has denied politics played a role in threat levels. Asked
by Eric Lichtblau of The New York Times if politics ever influenced
decisions on threat warnings, he volunteered to take a lie-detector
test. “Wire me up,” Mr. Ridge said, according to Mr. Lichtblau’s book,
“Bush’s Law.” “Not a chance. Politics played no part.”
I believe this is a process known better in Washington as “talking
out of one’s behind,” and I’m not referring to the Democratic Party
mascot. Perhaps Lichtblau should have taken Ridge up on his offer.
I’d also note that after this news broke across the media yesterday,
the Times’ Book section report leaves this part of their report to the
final three paragraphs.
Update: An excerpt from another book quoting Ridge seems to negate this allegation, too:
“In spite of allegations of playing politics, as time
went on, our office was more often than not the most reluctant to raise
the threat level. Despite perception to the contrary, the White House
couldn’t, as a matter of course, call us up and say, ‘Go to orange,
Tom.’”
Um, wait … that’s a quote from Ridge’s book, found by Caleb Howe. He also has this:
It is possible, at this point, that you find none of
this very definitive. But that is OK, because Tom Ridge has a
definitive statement for you. Earlier in the book, addressing the
allegations that political pressure had been applied to raise threat
levels, Ridge has this to say:
“Let me make it very clear. I was never directed to do so no matter how many analysts, pundits or critics say so.”
Maybe you should ask your publisher to read your book, Mr. Ridge.