Enough is enough

The headline in this morning’s Washington Post is “Bush gave no sign of worry in August 2001.” Under the headline (in the hard copy edition) is a picture of the president playing golf. The article itself proceeds to list the various issues that Bush was working on during the period, some important, some less so, but none as important as the attack that hadn’t happened yet. The implication is that the White House was doing nothing on the terrorism front. But there is no evidence to support that view. Indeed, it was a few days after the end of August that the administration’s new plan for countering al Qaeda was adopted.
This latest assault on the president is offensive even by the Post’s recent standards. As we have noted, essentially all of the information in the Aug. 6 Daily Presidential Briefing memo had been known for several years, as the memo itself states. For example, the memo mentions a 1998 report stating that al Qaeda was interested in airline hijacking, and goes on to say that information since that time was consistent with that report. So why not show pictures of Bill Clinton golfing during his presidency. As Rocket Man said last night, “There is simply no depth to which liberals will not stoop.”
My family has been subscribing to the Post since my parents moved to D.C. in the late 1930s. I have been reading the paper for almost 50 years. My earliest recollection of reading is sounding out the word “morning” that appeared above the column of legendary Post sportswriter Shirley Povich, called “This Morning.” But I’m going to cancel my subscription. I should be able to grab the sports section in the morning without first seeing a ridiculous headline that causes me to start my day angry. With the Post, that’s no longer possible.