Another Lost Opportunity?

David Corn has written a stellar piece for The Nation that dissects the 9/11 Commission report, and recaps the completely lackadaisical attitude of the early Bush administration toward the threat of terror. He leads with what should be obvious (but apparently isn't) to even the most partisan media hack:

...George W. Bush is the incumbent president who has to face the voters in November. Although Republicans in recent days have been highlighting the mistakes of the Clinton years, it is not inappropriate for voters to focus on what report tells us about Bush and his administration.

"Not inappropriate", David? Hell, it should be mandatory. Despite cassandras such as Dick Clarke and Thomas Pickard sounding alarms bells from the time the Bush Transition Team rode into town in late 2000, it is crystal clear that TeamBush had other priorities.

Reading Corn's piece is a helluva lot easier than wading through the 500+ pages of the 9/11 Commission report. It distills the essence of the report: while going way out of its way to avoid placing blame, the Commission's findings are clear for those who actually care to take off the partisan blinders.

The events of September 11, 2001 happened on the watch of George W. Bush. There was a cornucopia of warning signals and intelligence which were ignored and / or (perhaps more damning) given second and third tier priority to entertaining Ken Lay's Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force and cooking up the foundation for a case against Saddam.

Once again, TeamBush wiggles off the hook. What's it going to take?