Do You BELIEVE These Guys?

Not only is El Presidente apparently holding to his plan of putting his tender little hand into the big strong paw of his vice president before going in TOGETHER tomorrow morning to face the meanies on the 9/11 Commission ... an amazing admission in itself that Bush without Cheney has no brain ... but the Bush White House has also decreed that there will be no recording made of the event, no recording device allowed in the room, but rather a "note-taker," and if the White House has its way, probably an arthritic note-taker with a bad Bic. (New York Times story here.)

Somewhere over the weekend I recall seeing Bob Woodward on one of the Sunday Morning Gasbag Hours speculating that surely -- SURELY! -- Bush would change his mind about going in with Cheney, just for the pure embarrassment factor alone of having a presumably grown president who can't seem to stand on his own before a panel looking to get to the bottom of what happened to allow 19 citizens of the Third World to defeat completely and utterly the 21st century defenses of this great nation. Evidently, somewhere right now Bob Woodward is incredulously repeating to himself, "Bush is ACTUALLY going through with it ... hiding behind Cheney!" Remarkable.

But even more remarkable is Bush's further scrambling to make sure that no one ever knows what exactly he says in that closed, recorder-less room. And that the 9/11 Commission agreed to these conditions! "Mr. Bush will not be under oath, and the White House has been adamant that what he says should not be considered official testimony. 'He is not testifying, he is talking to them,' " said an unidentified White House spokesperson.

"He's NOT testifying," folks. He's "talking." Well, maybe not even that.

Vice President Cheney: "Come here, little fellow, and sit on my knee. Pull your shirttail out, and let me get my hand up under there. Now! We're ready for questions, Mr. Chairman. Aren't we, little pal?"

It'll be about as transparent as that. "Legal scholars said the lack of an official transcript would give the White House some deniability and make it more difficult to use the president's words as evidence in a future suit against the government. 'It gives them more maneuverability in case someone slips up or says something he regrets,' Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University, said."

Yeah, quite the man's man we've got in the White House! Quite the brave soul. Quite the leader of the Free World.