While avoiding testifying under oath, Condi Rice still manages to hit every talk show and TV channel she can, with the possible exception of Animal Planet and the Weather Channel, and does all she can to character-assassinate Richard Clarke. Instead of presenting any kind of evidence or reasonable argument, she angrily scolds anyone who tries to raise questions. I've heard a few commentators, including a couple of conservative ones, say that unleasing Rice as an attack dog was not a good move on the part of the Bush administration. She makes herself very easy to dislike.

These folks have been trying for some time to get answers and, until now, have got nowhere. It took someone like Clarke to knock a few gaps in the Bush administration's stonewall.

Don Firth