A bunch of people have sent me links to this story which seems to be spreading like a rash among the far lefty websites. It is extremely odd in format and style. But the gist of it seems to be that poor Cynthia McKinney never said Bush had prior knowledge of 9/11. The author, Greg Palast, seems to be saying that some damning “quote” by McKinney accusing Bush of advanced knowledge of 9/11 was “made up.” He writes: “The ‘quote’ from McKinney is a complete fabrication. A whopper, a fabulous fib, a fake, a flim-flam. Just freakin’ made up.” But he never actually prints the quote. So, here’s the quote I have in mind from the Washington Post account about her interview on Pacifica Radio:

We know there were numerous warnings of the events to come on September 11th. . . . What did this administration know and when did it know it, about the events of September 11th? Who else knew, and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were needlessly murdered? . . . What do they have to hide?

Palast seems to be saying this quote was either misinterpreted or was never uttered by McKinney in the first place. I don’t have time to wade through transcripts over at Pacifica Radio, but if he’s saying she never said this, I don’t understand why Cynthia McKinney didn’t flatly deny she ever said it. Instead, she seemed to be conceding she said it when she issued a backpeddling statement in response to her comments: “I am not aware of any evidence showing that President Bush or members of his administration have personally profited from the attacks of 9-11. A complete investigation might reveal that to be the case.”

Now, correct me if I’m wrong but if the quote was a complete fabrication, even a loonybird like McKinney would say so rather that issue a statement like that.

So, I assume Palast is asserting that the above quote doesn’t mean what many rational people think it means. If that’s the case, fine. But you can’t say McKinney has been the subject of disinformation campaign which includes outright journalistic fraud.

In short, unless I’m missing something, stop sending me this article because I think it is weird, unpersuasive and in no way changes my mind on the subject of Ms. McKinney’s enduring asininity.