Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Deadline Approaching, Where's The Damn Report?
from Georgia at Akou:
Bush calls me, a war critic, "irresponsible" and says I'm helping the terrorists and emboldening the enemy and doing everything short of strapping explosives to my chest. It may be the Johnnie Walker talking, but that still hurts.
I was sans computer for about five days, and come back to reality only to see that the punk ass president has resurfaced with the tired talking points and, on a side note, some of the tightest spandex I've seen in a while.
Pre-emptive striking didn't work in Iraq War, and it sure as hell won't work in the war of public opinion.
Read more...
See, Bush is kicking up all this dust against the peace-lovin'-pinko-commie-koolaid resistant masses in an effort to cloud the fact that it's just about deadline time, and the shit is about to hit the fan.
Two weeks ago, Senate Democrats closed the doors to the Senate to demand why Senator Pat Roberts was such a fucking liar. Well, the official talking point was that we did it to "demand answers" but we all know that Roberts and the rest of the GOP were on the receiving end of some harsh (and true) words in that closed session. So fierce was the Democrats' resolve that the GOP emerged with its tail between its legs, promising to report back on two weeks about the progress of Phase II of the investigation into pre-war intelligence.
Two weeks are up. Where's my damn report?
Now, today, tomorrow, soon, the six senators appointed to report back to the Senate will, I suspect, reveal that nothing has been accomplished. The GOP version will be that "it takes time" and that Democrats stalled. The Democratic version, of course, will be based on the facts.
Pesky little facts like this one:
Or this one:
Or this one:
If the report says that Phase II is "ongoing", we should ask why it's taken well over a year to complete. After all, it was Sen. Roberts who told the American people on Meet the Press on July 11, 2004 that Phase II "is ongoing, right now." Or where is that independent commission Sen. Roberts promised in the same interview?
I want that report. I want that report to expose what a damn liar Sen. Roberts is, and I want the Democrats to hold strong to their fiery resolve on this issue. Let Bush call us traitors. Let him say we are aiding the enemy. Let him continue blubbering his cacophony of lies while we stand true to the American people. We forced a closed session once. We'll do it again. If the deadline passes, we'll do it. If the report shows stonewalling, we'll do it. We'll do it again and again and again until Phase II is complete.
Sure, the rhetoric from the right will get more vitriolic, more hateful. But that will be our barometer, because the more vicious and defensive the Bush administration gets, the closer we are getting to the truth. And no punk ass president in spandex is going to keep us from that cause.
crossposted at PoliticalCortex
Bush calls me, a war critic, "irresponsible" and says I'm helping the terrorists and emboldening the enemy and doing everything short of strapping explosives to my chest. It may be the Johnnie Walker talking, but that still hurts.
I was sans computer for about five days, and come back to reality only to see that the punk ass president has resurfaced with the tired talking points and, on a side note, some of the tightest spandex I've seen in a while.
Pre-emptive striking didn't work in Iraq War, and it sure as hell won't work in the war of public opinion.
Read more...
See, Bush is kicking up all this dust against the peace-lovin'-pinko-commie-koolaid resistant masses in an effort to cloud the fact that it's just about deadline time, and the shit is about to hit the fan.
Two weeks ago, Senate Democrats closed the doors to the Senate to demand why Senator Pat Roberts was such a fucking liar. Well, the official talking point was that we did it to "demand answers" but we all know that Roberts and the rest of the GOP were on the receiving end of some harsh (and true) words in that closed session. So fierce was the Democrats' resolve that the GOP emerged with its tail between its legs, promising to report back on two weeks about the progress of Phase II of the investigation into pre-war intelligence.
Two weeks are up. Where's my damn report?
Now, today, tomorrow, soon, the six senators appointed to report back to the Senate will, I suspect, reveal that nothing has been accomplished. The GOP version will be that "it takes time" and that Democrats stalled. The Democratic version, of course, will be based on the facts.
Pesky little facts like this one:
In remarks last week at the Woodrow Wilson Center, [Sen. Roberts] said the long-awaited phase-two report is "basically on the back burner," indefinitely postponed while the Committee turns its attention to overseeing intelligence reform. Which suits Roberts fine: As he put it, "The bottom line is that (the administration) believed the intelligence, and the intelligence was wrong." The New Republic, 3/28/05
Or this one:
There is no phase two. Last week, a commission appointed by President George W. Bush under public pressure to look into American intelligence about weapons of mass destruction issued yet another report highly critical of the intelligence services. Like the one released by the Senate committee last July, the commission's report left unaddressed the question of whether our leaders told us the truth as they sought our support for their Iraq war plans. That did not stop Roberts, however, from using the occasion as an excuse to close the books on phase two. "I don't think there should be any doubt that we have now heard it all regarding prewar intelligence," Roberts told The Washington Post, presumably with a straight face. "I think that it would be a monumental waste of time to re-plow this ground any further." St. Louis Dispatch, 4/6/05
Or this one:
It has since become blindingly apparent that Senator Pat Roberts, the committee chairman, intends to retreat on that commitment. In a July 20 letter to US Senator John Kerry, the Kansas Republican made it clear that he doesn't see that as an important priority, and that even if his committee completes phase II, the results may not be made public. Boston Globe, 9/13/2005
If the report says that Phase II is "ongoing", we should ask why it's taken well over a year to complete. After all, it was Sen. Roberts who told the American people on Meet the Press on July 11, 2004 that Phase II "is ongoing, right now." Or where is that independent commission Sen. Roberts promised in the same interview?
I want that report. I want that report to expose what a damn liar Sen. Roberts is, and I want the Democrats to hold strong to their fiery resolve on this issue. Let Bush call us traitors. Let him say we are aiding the enemy. Let him continue blubbering his cacophony of lies while we stand true to the American people. We forced a closed session once. We'll do it again. If the deadline passes, we'll do it. If the report shows stonewalling, we'll do it. We'll do it again and again and again until Phase II is complete.
Sure, the rhetoric from the right will get more vitriolic, more hateful. But that will be our barometer, because the more vicious and defensive the Bush administration gets, the closer we are getting to the truth. And no punk ass president in spandex is going to keep us from that cause.
crossposted at PoliticalCortex
# posted by David @ Tuesday, November 15, 2005 
