1115.org

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Christine Whitman used to be a member of George Bush’s cabinet. Today she demonstrated why.

She was, you may recall, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. In that capacity, she was responsible for putting out public assurances after 9/11 that the air around the World Trade Center site was safe to breathe.

On Monday, the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties held a hearing titled “Oversight Hearing on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Response to Air Quality Issues Arising from the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001: Were There Substantive Due Process Violations?” Marquee billing went to The Honorable Christine Todd Whitman.

One version of AP’s account of the hearing begins:

Ex-EPA chief Christie Whitman was bombarded by boos and a host of accusations Monday at a hearing into her assurances that it had been safe to breathe the air around the fallen World Trade Center.

Another version begins:

Ex-EPA chief Christie Whitman denounced as “downright falsehoods” the criticism of her assurances that it was safe to breathe the air around the fallen World Trade Center.

They booed her, and she fought back. That was pretty much what everyone expected.

Version one tells us:

The confrontation between the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency and her critics grew heated at times. Some members of the audience shouted in anger, only to be gaveled down by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who chaired the hearing.

Version two has this up front instead:

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat whose district includes the World Trade Center site, called the hearing after years of criticizing federal officials for what he says was a negligent and incomplete cleanup after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

He opened the session by saying the Bush administration “has continued to make false, misleading and inaccurate statements, and refused to take remedial actions, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.”

Whitman, the main focus of much of that criticism, called such allegations “misinformation, innuendo and downright falsehoods.”

The one thing that both versions emphasized is that Whitman took the opportunity to set the record straight. You want to know who was to blame for all the confusion about whether the air at the WTC site was safe to breathe? An ex-member of Bush’s cabinet stepped up to the plate yesterday and defied all expectations by pinning the blame squarely where it clearly lies:

“There are indeed people to blame. They are the terrorists who attacked the United States, not the men and women at all levels of government who worked heroically to protect and defend this country,” Whitman said.

Just about takes the cake, doesn’t it? Not even Bush could have done better, not even Cheney.

Actually, I take that back. Her statement rates an A-, at best. Heck, even I could have done better. Even I know that it’s much more effective if you use the magic incantation “al Qaeda”. And the children. She didn’t even mention the children.

But still. She certainly showed that she has the stuff that good Bushies are made of. She clearly belonged.

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There was also this memorable exchange (from version one), which will be construed by those who are not loyal Bushies as Whitman hiding behind the skirts of her son, so to speak (so the children did come up, only in a different context):

Her responses were mostly calm and deliberate. But under questioning from Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., Whitman angrily raised her voice, saying she based her statements on “what I was hearing from professionals,” not the whims of politicians.

Whitman pointed out that her son was in the World Trade Center complex that day, “and I almost lost him,” at which point Ellison said he would not “stand here and allow you to try to obfuscate.”

“I’m not obfuscating,” Whitman shot back. “I have been called a liar even in this room today.”

Today, just in this room. Tomorrow, throughout the land?

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What did loyal Bushies think of the hearing? Rep. Trent Franks was willing to share:

Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary subcommittee, said he worried that assigning blame to Whitman could mean, in future crises, that “officials might default to silence.”

Let’s not hold anyone accountable today, because when officials are called to account tomorrow, they may clam up instead of serving up lies. Come, come Mr. Franks! Surely that’s not your A game,?