The White House is backpeddling. Which is fine. Doing the right thing . . . eventually . . . is the best we can hope for from the Bush Administration.

But here’s something that struck me as odd — today’s letter to the 9/11 Commission from the White House counsel, especially this self-serving statement:

The President has consistently stated a policy of strong support for the Commission and instructed the Executive Branch to provide unprecedented and extraordinary access to the Commission [emphasis mine]

Call me crazy, but for the past several days, the White House and Condi have been relying on "precedent" to avoid having her testify. So how can it be seriously asserted that the Exec Branch’s "unprecedented . . . access" has been "consistent"?

Interestingly, the next paragraph discusses the lack of past instances in which a sitting NSA testified in public. Again, I ask . . . has the WH access been "unprecedented" or not?

Also, did anybody catch this "catch"? In order for Rice to testify, the Commission must agree in writing not to request any more public testimony from any White House official (including Rice herself) (see page two of the letter) Mmmmmmm . . . .