I'd never seen Danielle Pletka before, identified as an advisor to Bush/Cheney.
Wolf Blitzer started off with part of the Bin Laden tape, then Blitzer makes a strange reference to Fahrenheit 9/11.
And that prompts an
even weirder reply from Pletka.
BIN LADEN (through translator): It never occurred to us that he, the commander in chief of the country, would leave 50,000 citizens and the two towers to face those horrors alone because he thought listening to a child discussing her goats was more important.
BLITZER: It sounds, Danielle, as he may have watched Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," based on that little clip.
DANIELLE PLETKA, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: I'm glad to know that Michael Moore is giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
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The look on this woman's face was downright scary. Then she trashes Richard Holbrooke for "politicizing" the matter, and then politicizes it herself.
BLITZER: Well, do you want to give us your bottom-line assessment? You just heard Richard Holbrooke make the case for the Kerry campaign. Make the case for the Bush campaign, your reaction to what we just saw.
PLETKA: I have to tell you, Wolf, Richard Holbrooke used the word astonish. And I have to say, sitting here listening to him, I was astonished to hear him exploiting a tape that has been out barely an hour, using threats against the United States and against the American people to help his presidential candidate in the elections.
The fact is, he is trying, as Senator Kerry is, to mislead the American people into believing that, somehow, there is a silver bullet out there. It is a lie to suggest that we had Osama bin Laden in our clutches.
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Also note how she equates the New York Times as not being "American."
PLETKA: First of all, in 1995, Al-Qaqaa was noticed by the inspectors there. Americans asked for the stash there to be blown up. The inspectors said they weren't even sure it should be part of the sanctions and they weren't going to blow it up. So I have a little bit of a suspicion about the international inspectors.
In addition, 18 months afterwards, I don't think we have a clear idea of exactly what happened. I have been working on Iraq issues for 20 years. My inclination is to believe people who were on the ground. It's not to blame Americans first and go with what the United Nations and "The New York Times" is telling me I ought to go with. I want to know the facts.
Full transcript here: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/29/wbr.01.html