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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
Much is riding on Rice's testimony
By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit
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Stay with CNN-USA for ongoing coverage of reactions to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the 9/11 commission -- and for updates from the campaign trail.
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 VIDEO |
 CNN's John King on the high stakes for Condoleezza Rice -- and President Bush.
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 CNN's Bob Franken on Rice's appearance and efforts at damage control.
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 Richard Clarke says Bush erred in terrorism fight.
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RELATED |
 Political overtones as Rice goes before 9/11 panel
 Interactive: Historical photo -- a chief of staff testifies
• Interactive: Poll: Clarke's impact
• Gallery: Key 9/11 testimony
• Gallery: Commission members
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Condoleezza Rice's public testimony today before the 9/11 commission rises to a level of political theater not seen since ... well, since Richard Clarke drew gavel-to-gavel TV coverage two weeks ago. Just as they did when Clarke testified March 24, both President Bush and Sen. John Kerry are lying relatively low today.
Bush spends the day in Crawford, Texas. Kerry, who raised roughly $2.5 million at the Omni Shoreham in Washington's Woodley Park last night, campaigns in Wisconsin and appears tonight at another fund-raiser, this one in Chicago.
Meanwhile, back on Capitol Hill, Rice will raise her right hand at 9 a.m. ET and begin two and a half hours of questioning that may have a greater impact on the Bush and Kerry campaigns than any multimillion-dollar fund-raiser either one could hold.
While the media -- and the Grind is no exception -- often overdramatize events like today's hearing, it's hard to overplay these stakes. After the bloodiest week in Iraq since Baghdad fell one year ago, Bush's closest and most trusted foreign policy aide could do more today to enhance or demolish his credibility as a war president than any one ever has, or could.
Here's what we know:
Rice likely will be asked about a memo Clarke says he forwarded in January 2001 to Rice after the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole, according to the New York Times.She will be asked about a speech she was scheduled to deliver on September 11, 2001, which addressed the "threats and problems of today and the day after" and focused on missile defense, with little discussion of terrorism from Islamic radicals, according to the Washington Post, which obtained excerpts of the speech.Rice will not, as Clarke did, offer an overt apology to the families of September 11 victims, many of whom will be sitting a few feet behind her, holding pictures of loved ones, the Times reported.Commission Chairman Thomas Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, and Vice Chair Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana, will lead off the questioning of Rice, a move designed to dilute the partisan tone of the proceeding, according to the Times.During their planning/strategy meeting yesterday, Kean and Hamilton urged their fellow commissioners to avoid any appearance of partisanship in their questioning of Rice. Presenting themselves as nonpolitical, Kean said, is necessary if the commission hopes to maintain credibility with the American public.
But at least one Democrat on the panel, Bob Kerrey, doesn't sound like he's down for the okey-doke. Kerrey told the Times that he agrees that the circumstances of Rice testifying by herself will tend to magnify even the slightest hint of partisanship.
"But we can't ask questions that are less critical of Dr. Rice than we did of Sandy Berger," he told the Times. "We've got five people on this commission who are going to vote for George Bush and five people who are going to vote for John Kerry, and it's not like anybody is hiding that."
Lost in the shuffle
It's likely to get lost in today's coverage of Rice testimony, but we urge everyone look for stories about the unusually personal and sentimental speech Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens delivered last night at the University of San Diego Law School in California.
In his speech, titled "Memories," Stevens, who turns 84 this month and has sat on the High Court since President Ford appointed him in 1975, pays tribute to a host of colleagues, past and present, of all ideological shapes and sizes.
