President Mortimer Snerd

As a pugnacious liberal, I do my best to maintain an elevated level of rhetoric when addressing political questions. But when the so-called leader of the free world refuses to speak before the commission investigating 9/11 without having Dick Cheney sitting right next to him, it becomes difficult not to see Dick Cheney the ventriloquist in this "partnership." And that, of course, would make Bush the dummy, as Tom Tomorrow pointed out way back in 2001. Nancy Pelosi is exactly right when she points out that it is embarrassing for a President to refuse to stand up and speak for himself. When this refusal is placed in the broader context of the administration's demonstrably obstructionist approach to the 9/11 commission hearings, it is beyond embarrassing. It is offensive. The citizens of this country have asked for a clear accounting of the events surrounding 9/11. A public servant's response should, in this circumstance, should be alongs the lines of "sure . . . whatever we can do to help."