suggested

[Grant Barrett]

On Tuesday, June 29, 1999, Dan Goodman <dsgood at VISI.COM> wrote:
>I hadn't encountered this use of "suggested" before.  Is it something
>already common in news media?

The "suggested" indicates skepticism on the part of the writer, about any of the statements, new or old.
It's actually a clever usage. In my experience, "suggested" indicates an editorial comment on the part of the writer, without explicitly appearing to be so. In the first example you provide makes it sound like another in a long line of excuses from about the embassy bombing. Thus, the excuse is suggested for anyone who refused to accept previous excuses. The second example is also another version of a previous statement, in this case a prediction, leaving the reader to pick any one of the President's predictions, or the GOP's predictions, or the OMB prediction, or whoever's.
Grant Barrett

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