Our own Rich Lowry interviewed Rep. Curt Weldon on “Hannity and Colmes” on Friday night And judging by the transcript, Weldon was, shall we say, not exactly coherent. He said he hadn’t even heard of “Able Danger” until a few weeks ago, then said that he had given the Bush NSC a chart full of “Able Danger” information just after 9/11. And when Rich asked him whether he had indeed told Time Magazine that he could no longer stand by his claim that Mohammed Atta’s name and picture were on the chart he gave to Bush’s NSC man, Steve Hadley, he said “the magazines” got it wrong — and then named Newsweek, not Time, as a culprit:

LOWRY: Time magazine reported this week that you told Time that you’re no longer certain that Mohammed Atta was on the chart. And in the Washington Post this morning, your spokesperson said, actually, yes, Mohammed Atta was on the chart. So I’m wondering, which is it?

REP. CURT WELDON (R) PENNSYLVANIA: Well, I think the magazines are all over the place. The facts are the facts….I was brought a chart that showed Al Qaeda cells two weeks after 9/11. I didn’t study the chart. I didn’t go through it and analyze all of the details. I was more interested in getting it right down to the White House…

LOWRY: Congressman, was Mohammed Atta’s name…

WELDON: It was absolutely on the chart.

LOWRY: It was absolutely on the chart?

WELDON: Absolutely it was on the chart.

LOWRY: And you are certain — I just want to be clear. You are certain that his name was on the chart?

WELDON: Absolutely. And that’s why I took it down. The chart was an indication of those cells that had been identified by Able Danger, and I wanted the White House to see it and to look at it. What I was asked by Newsweek was, well did you see a photograph? Did you see details? Now I don’t remember whether there was a photograph or what kind of photograph it was….I was never aware of all the details of Able Danger until three months ago. That wasn’t my focus and I never said it was. My focus was on the process of data mining…. I didn’t even know what Able Danger was until three months ago.

ME: Huh? Say WHAT, Curt?