Dems Senate Stunt Sign Of Weakness
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session Tuesday, questioning intelligence that President Bush used in the run-up to the war in Iraq and accusing Republicans of ignoring the issue.
"They have repeatedly chosen to protect the Republican administration rather than get to the bottom of what happened and why," Democratic leader Harry Reid said.
Taken by surprise, Republicans derided the move as a political stunt.
"The United States Senate has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership," said Majority Leader Bill Frist. "They have no convictions, they have no principles, they have no ideas," the Republican leader said.
In a speech on the Senate floor, Reid demanded the Senate go into closed session. The public was ordered out of the chamber, the lights were dimmed, and the doors were closed. No vote is required in such circumstances.
When I first heard this, I was finishing up Rush's show and my first thought was, "What the hell?" They must have missed Fitz's press conference on Friday when he said, in no unequivocal terms, that the indictment and the investigation has NOTHING to do with the intelligence used to go into Iraq. It's a non-starter. This issue is as dead as can be, as far as I'm concerned. We heard this for months running up to the election last year, and guess what? President Bush was re-elected! Get over it...
I like Hugh's summation best:
With the Senate shut-down engineered by Harry Reid today, Senate Democrats have all but conceded their rout over the past five days. The indictment of Lewis Libby brought them only confused looks and scratched heads from America at large, and Rove had escaped. Then the president nominated an extraordinarily qualified jurist and rolled out a comprehensive strategy on avian flu preparedness. Oh, the economy grew by 3.8% GDP in the throed (hurricane) quarter.
On top of it, Chuck Schumer's outrageous attack on Judge Alito and the DNC's scurrilous anti-Italian-American insinuation (so raw that even Chris Matthews could not swallow it) had opened the window into the Democratic destruction machine too wide... Then Barbara Boxer attempted to make an argument against Alito on the nets, and the Gang of 14's Lindsey Graham and Michael DeWine preemptively announced support for the constitutional option if Dems resurrected their extra-constitutional filibuster.
In the blink of an eye, all of last Thursday's promise was gone and Dems were reeling, and Judiciary Committee Democrats in particular are looking at another round of hearings where the nominee stands relative to his opponents as a teacher does her first graders.
So what did the Reid-led Democrats do? Panic, and pull the Rule 21 stunt, which does nothing except to telegraph to the country that the obstructionist Democrats of Tom Daschle's era haven't changed a bit. No social security reform, no exploration in ANWR despite gas prices, Democratic opposition in the House to new refineries, and now personal and repugnant attacks on the extraordinarily accomplished son of an Italian immigrant.
Proof
Neiman
HG
realitybasedbob
ManofFireandLight
robert108
Zsa Zsa
Bat One
