President Look the Other Way earlier today decided this day, today, was the very best day ever to tell the American people what the New York Times and other media mouthpieces are calling "new information" about an asserted Al Qaeda plan to attack the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles, a building we are always reminded when the subject arises, including in the Times, is "the tallest building west of the Mississippi," by which we must assume west of the Mississippi in the United States and no farther.

Timing, of course, is everything in the Rove White House, and so it's par for the course to see the Times report, by the occasionally useful Elisabeth Bumiller and David Johnston, inform readers:

Mr. Bush and his counterterrorism adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend, made no claim on Thursday that the eavesdropping program, conducted by the National Security Agency, had helped to foil the 2002 plot. But in a conference call with reporters, Ms. Townsend did not rule out the program as a factor in discovering the plan.

"We use all available sources and methods in the intelligence community, but we have to protect them," Ms. Townsend said. "So I'm not going to talk about what ones we did or didn't use in this particular case."

Don't worry, Fran, we see where you're going with this. We get it. We get it so well we can see right through it.

(Note: See also, "Bush Says Cooperation Foiled 2002 Terrorist Scheme," by William Branigin of the Washington Post.)

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