As I wrote
in my previous diary, I thought it was odd that no one in Reactionary Nation was talking about the Downing Street Minutes and no one was even debating the possibility that they were inauthentic.
To me, the silence was deafening.
Well, they are beginning to break their silence and I understand now why they were mum on the subject to begin with.
Exhibit A: Rich Lowry, on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
Mr. Lehrer notes that the Minutes have gotten more coverage in the UK than in the US.
JIM LEHRER: Do you think it should be a big deal, Rich?
RICH LOWRY: I don't think so. The major phrase in there that is causing a big stir is the intelligence was fixed around the policy. And I think people are interpreting the word "fixed" the way you would say fixed the Belmont Stakes this weekend, which is not the way it was meant. I think it was meant in the sense that the intelligence is supporting the policy asking questions like what will a post-invasion Iraq look like and questions of that nature. Unfortunately, the intelligence was disastrously inadequate on those sort of questions so in that sense it wasn't fixed enough.
(Emphasis mine)
Juan Cole had a section in his blog that discussed the different meanings that Brits attach to the words "fixed around."
It seems to me that Lowry was backed into a corner and made a rather pitiful argument. Mr. Cole's exegesis seems to bear that out.
Is this the best that they (the GOPhers and Bush apologists) can do? If so, methinks Mr. Conyers will hand them their asses in a real congressional hearing.