What did she know and when did she know it?
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi ignited new debate about Bush-era terror tactics after a press conference on Thursday.
But this time, she was the target.
Pelosi claimed the CIA purposely misled her in official briefings on whether or not it was using waterboarding on terror detainees. The CIA says it didn’t.
We’re following a variety of perspectives from the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, MSNBC and Poltico.
First, the Washington Post’s approach was to dissect the press conference at which Pelosi appeared to offer contradictory statements about what she knew.
It described it as:
“…the delicate art of backtracking while walking sideways.” (Washington Post)
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, former Bush deputy chief of staff Karl Rove said was obvious Pelosi knew what was going on.
“She not only agreed with what was being done, she apparently pressed the CIA to do more.
But when political winds shifted, Mrs. Pelosi seems to have decided to use enhanced interrogation as an issue to attack Republicans.” (Wall Street Journal)
But, Pelosi’s hometown San Francisco Chronicle suggested that it believed Pelosi’s side of the story.
It noted the Speaker was a “notorious stickler for protocol” and quoted the author of her biography as saying it was clear that:
“…somebody's not telling the truth, either Nancy Pelosi or somebody at the CIA. And there is nothing in Nancy Pelosi's long public history to suggest that she lies. Hardball politics, yes. Lying, no." (San Francisco Chronicle)
MSNBC offered a different perspective when it interviewed Independent Senator Joe Lieberman who defended the CIA.
"You have to have confidence in the CIA. And over the 20 years I've been here, I've been briefed constantly by the CIA and I'd say that they've told me the truth, as they see it.” (MSNBC)
And Politico didn’t even get into the “did she or didn’t she” debate. It just wanted to know:
“…if and when the White House will give Nancy Pelosi some air support in her fight with the CIA.” (Politico)
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