Did anyone see an interview this morning on cnn...

[blue in ohio]

with Fran Townsend (homeland security adviser). It was with Miles O'Brien--- They were talking about whether or not the mayor of LA had been told of this foiled attack. She said that someone
(she could not remember who) in the mayor's office had been told, but I guess he didn't get that
message.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. You know, I believe in fairies, Santa Claus, trolls, and the Easter

Bunny too.

[deminks]

2. Same thing Snotty McMuffin said yesterday.

I have a feeling KKKarl was busy at the fax machine last night.

[stepnw1f]

3. Usual Right Wing Tactic: "could not remember who"

surrrrrrrrrrrre

[Missy M]

4. So someone forgot to tell the mayor the city was going....

to be attacked. Just a minor matter so don't bother the mayor. The lies just keep on coming and they are getting bolder. The Bush administration will stop at nothing.

[blue in ohio]

5. And I'm sure that if the attack had happened.

It would all have been the mayor's fault too right.

[Sydnie]

6. someone told someone but we don't know who or when

"Some people say" .... :shrug: Who do they think they are kidding?

[peaches2003]

7. Hate to disagree, but....

I heard the Mayor himself on tv last night say that 'Yes, in further checking on this the White House had called and spoken to someone in his Administration that Bush would be mentioning blah, blah, blah, but that he had not gotten all the details that he should have had...'. So, it does look like there had been some contact from the White House, though not enough, but there was not total lack of info like the Mayor had at first said.

[blue in ohio]

8. Thanks for the correction. although

sometimes I need to tell a friend something that is kind of important and I leave him a message and he doesn't call me back...so....I KEEP TRYING UNTIL I'M TALKING DIRECTLY TO HIM
seems like a greater effort could have been made to contact him.

[Ecumenist]

10. Somehow, I still don't believe it

I agree with you, Blue. If it was all so fired important, it isn't beyond of realm possibility that you make every effort to at least appear concerned and professional enough to communicate in an official manner.

[peaches2003]

11. I agree, but

it does seem like there was exaggeration on the Mayor's part that there had been NO contact from the White House. Believe me, I am no defender of anyone in the Bush Adm. and am probably a lot more violently anti-Bush and his Crime Family than a majority of people on DU are. But, I was not pleased with the waffling of the Mayor when he did admit that his office had been contacted and at no time then did he say, but they should have called me back, no one told me, they spoke to a minor member of my office or anything like that. He more or less changed his story to 'I didn't have the whole story' from I knew nothing'.

[Moosepoop]

9. I saw it...

and I was amazed at Miles! He wasn't his usual water-carrying self -- he was downright snarky with her and her "answers"!

About the LA mayor being notified, she said that someone on his staff had been notified. Miles stressed that the mayor himself was not notified by the NSA. Fran then said that proper channels had been utilized, the NSA had notified the local police department, and someone there had notified someone on the mayor's staff, and if the message wasn't delivered to the mayor, it wasn't NSA's fault. !!!

Miles asked her about the timing of the "foiled shoebomber plot" being made public -- was it to divert attention from troubles the administration is facing, or was it to highlight the effectiveness of the wiretapping program and/or the Patriot Act? Fran was offended at the question, and said she "couldn't believe" that he had just implied any of those things. She said the purpose of the release was to highlight the effectiveness of the "global effort" to combat terrorism, as there were four countries involved in foiling the plot.

Miles asked if the wiretapping or the Patriot Act had anything to do with the foiled plot, and she gave a long-winded account of how wonderful and necessary a tool the Patriot Act is, without actually answering the question. Miles then asked his final question -- if the wiretapping or the Patriot Act were to be credited with the plot being foiled... would you tell us that?? She answered with an emphatic "NO!" and went on about not telling the terrorists what we're doing to thwart them. Miles chuckled at her and ended the interview.

His tone throughout the whole thing was incredulous and mocking of her and the WH, much more so than I can convey in typing it.