We rewrite, you decide
From "Bush Says He Answered All Questions From 9/11 Panel", the New York Times, April 29, 2004:
"Mr. Bush chuckled at the suggestion that he and Mr. Cheney had chosen to be interviewed together so they could prop each other up or prevent discrepancies in their answers. "If we had something to hide, we wouldn't have met with them in the first place," he said."
From Tim Russert's interview with Condoleezza Rice, NBC's "Meet the Press", March 14, 2004:
MR. RUSSERT: Will you testify under oath in public about September 11?
DR. RICE: Tim, this is not a matter of preference; this is a matter of principle. It has long been a legal and constitutional principle that assistants to the president, the presidential staff, do not testify before legislative bodies. But this is not a matter of preference. I have spent more than four hours with the commission going through the details about 9/11. I'm prepared to spend more time with the commission in discussion about whatever they'd like to know about September 11, but as a matter of principle, we cannot breach this wall between the legislature and the executive.
MR. RUSSERT: On September 11, there is a commission now in place which the administration originally resisted and also resisted extending the deadline. They now want to interview the president. He has said he'll only sit down with the chairman and co-chairman of the committee for one hour. Will the president meet with the full commission and will he do it for longer than an hour?
DR. RICE: The president, of course, is the president, and he does have a schedule to keep, but he has said that he will sit with the chairman and with the co-chairman and that he will answer whatever questions they have. And I'm quite certain he will take as long as they need to answer those questions.
MR. RUSSERT: Several hours, a day if they need?
DR. RICE: Well, I would hope that they would recognize that he's president and that people would be judicious in the use of his time.
MR. RUSSERT: John Kerry said, “The president has time to go to a rodeo but not spend time with the commission.'
DR. RICE: As I've said, Tim, I believe the president is prepared to spend whatever time they need to answer their questions, but I hope that people will be judicious with his time.