Time for CNN, None for Congress

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Condoleezza Rice is the White House official whose testimony is desired the most by the congressional panel probing the Bush administration's handling of Al Qaeda before the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, but the Bush administration refuses to have her testify publicly. She hasn't exactly been invisible, though. In response to criticisms of the White House by former anti-terrorism czar Richard Clarke, Rice has been "spending the week on television and in news media briefings," note Elizabeth Bumiller and Philip Shenon. "She has infuriated some members of the panel, who wonder why she has time for CNN but not for them. On Thursday they questioned again whether she should be subpoenaed to testify. ... 'My gosh, I think she was on every single network the day the commission opened its hearing this week, attacking our witnesses,' said former Senator Bob Kerrey, a commission member and a Democrat." Joshua Micah Marshall notes that Rice has even been eager to reveal classified information if it helps the administration's image. "She's a veritable information geyser, a one-woman-FOIA," Marshall quips. "She just won't answer questions under oath." The Washington Post notes, moreover, that Rice's "flurry of media interviews and statements" have "contradicted other administration officials and her own previous statements."