CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, FUDGING IT

Dr. Charles Krauthammer wants to paint Dean as crazy, but he doesn't bother with a full diagnosis (maybe patient visits have been cut too short in his office). Here is Charles Krauthammer's quote from Howard Dean's appearance on the Diane Rehm show from Monday, Dec. 1:

Diane Rehm: "Why do you think he [Bush] is suppressing that [Sept. 11] report?"

Howard Dean: "I don't know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I've heard so far -- which is nothing more than a theory, it can't be proved -- is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is?"

Krauthammer comments:

Now, I cannot testify to Howard Dean's sanity before this campaign, but five terms as governor by a man with no visible tics and no history of involuntary confinement is pretty good evidence of a normal mental status. When he avers, however, that "the most interesting" theory as to why the president is "suppressing" the Sept. 11 report is that Bush knew about Sept. 11 in advance, it's time to check on thorazine supplies. When Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) first broached this idea before the 2002 primary election, it was considered so nutty it helped make her former representative McKinney. Today the Democratic presidential front-runner professes agnosticism as to whether the president of the United States was tipped off about 9/11 by the Saudis, and it goes unnoticed. The virus is spreading.

Howard Dean, nutty? Not so fast. Here's the full quote, which Mr. Krauthammer doesn't bother to tell you about, since it would undercut his argument:

Caller: . . .And the second question is, once we get you in the white house, would you please make sure that there is a thorough investigation of 9/11, and not --

Dean: Yes --

Caller: -- stonewall it.

Dean: There is a report which the president is suppressing evidence for, which is a thorough investigation of 9/11.

Diane Rehm: Why do you think he’s suppressing that report?

Dean: I don’t know. There are many, there are many theories about it, the most interesting theory that I’ve heard so far, which is nothing more than a theory – I can’t think – it can’t be proved, is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now, who knows what the real situation is? But the trouble is, by suppressing that kind of information, you lead to those kinds of theories, whether they have any truth to them or not, and eventually they get repeated as fact. So I think the President is taking a great risk by suppressing the clear, the key information that needs to go to the Kean commission.

I transcribed this myself from the audio file of the broadcast, which you can get here. Start at 42:30. I edited out the um's and ah's, but otherwise, unlike Charles Krauthammer, I've given you the full context to evaluate Dean's comments. The main point that Dean seemed to be making was that Presidential suppression of documents leads to the proliferation of rumors that may or may not be true.

Call me crazy, but I don't see anything wrong with that quote, Dr. Krauthammer.

See also The Daily Howler, for Krauthammer's misleading rendering of another Dean quote in the same article, and Nick Confessore at TAPPED on the same theme.

For some (embarrassingly) uncritical appropriations of Krauthammer's piece, see The Belgravia Dispatch, Tim Graham at NRO, Environmental Republican, and Tasty Manatees (good name, though, in a sense). I'm sure there will be more.

MORE: Let me be a little more explicit about why I think that Krauthammer gets the quote wrong. He wants to use this quote as evidence that Dean is "delusional." If Dean weren't "delusional," apparently, he wouldn't find this theory "interesting" -- and he certainly wouldn't do so without calling into question the veracity of the theory, as Krauthammer implies that Dean has done. The full context of the quote shows, however, that in response to a question on the President's "stonewalling" in the 9/11 investigation (a description of the President's behavior that Dr. K does not contest directly -- he just puts scare quotes around "suppressing," even though in truth it's hardly delusional to claim that the Bush administration has suppressed information in the investigation), Dean argues that there are luxuriously proliferating rumors out there that people will eventually begin to repeat as fact. My sense is that Dean was using the word "interesting" in the same way that one might use the word "curious": a claim that piques your interest, but not because of the truth value of the thing. In that respect, the Saudi warning theory is, in fact, "interesting," but if you quote me, please quote the context here as well. At any rate, listen to it and judge for yourself, but for God's sake, don't rely on Dr. Krauthammer's incomplete quotation.

MORE: Mr. Djerjian at Belgravia Dispatch begs to differ. Apparently I pissed him off a bit: his post compares my prose to Derrida's:

Oh, Martson also has a "More" section at the bottom of his post. It was a tad Derrida-like in its complexities (and Brett seems to have special access to Dean's inner thought processes and so muses on a bit about what the word "interesting" means when uttered by Dean).

That hurts, actually. But at least I can spell Gregory's last name right. Aside from that, though, Mr. Djerjian makes some good points -- if you accept the premise that Dean was engaging in "politiking" with that quote. I doubt it. If the statement struck you that way, though -- well, whatever floats your boat. I'd prefer that you hear the original rather than take your cues from Krauthammer, though.

MORE: And finally: I did e-mail Gregory about misspelling my name. To be fair, he's not alone in not being able to get it right. Probably half of my students can't, either.

MORE: WOULD THAT THAT HAD BEEN ALL! Unfortunately for me, see the update, above! Let me tell you, I am so glad that you can read this and chuckle at my incompetence!