Tom Ridge's Explosive Claim Of Political Pressure Fizzles

The publisher said Ridge's book would talk about political pressure to raise the Terror Threat Level.

Ridge now said no such thing ever happened.

"I'm not second-guessing my colleagues," Ridge said in an interview about The Test of Our Times, which comes out Tuesday and recounts his experiences as head of the nation's homeland security efforts in the first several years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

...Now, Ridge says he did not mean to suggest he was pressured to raise the threat level, and he is not accusing anyone of trying to boost Bush in the polls. "I was never pressured," Ridge said.

I guess that's the end of the Olbermann booking.

Publishers release jazzed up quotes all the time to generate some interest in what otherwise is likely to be a deathly boring book. I guess they figure the walk back won't get as much attention and the PR buzz from the initial release.

Given Ridge's less than electric public personality, it's hard to blame them for wanting to make it seem exciting. Who in their right mind was going to read this book before they heard that quote? Now we can all go back to ignoring it.

posted by DrewM. at 10:01 AM

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