In a move that has not occurred in twenty-five years, the Democrats shut the American public out of the Senate chamber and forced a secret session of the upper chamber this afternoon. Without warning, Harry Reid invoked Rule 21 and after an immediate second, chased out the press and Senate staffers, locked the doors — and threw a tanrum over Joe Wilson:
he US Senate held a rare secret session to discuss a scandal that led to the resignation of a top White House official last week and the intelligence used to justify the 2003 invasion of
Iraq.
Opposition Democrats requested the closed door session saying it was necessary to allow for a full, open debate on alleged manipulation of prewar intelligence.
This shows the emptiness of Democrats, both in head and heart. As Bill Frist said afterwards, the minority party proves it has nothing to contribute except cheap political stunts. They know that the Fitzgerald investigation came up with next to nothing on the Plame leak — because it didn’t constitute a crime under US statute. Despite having a prosecutor independent of the Bush administration run wild for almost two years and exceed the original boundaries of his mandate, the only indictment he could muster was one in which a very stupid and probably criminal act by a single person could be verified — and that just had to do with the investigation and grand jury itself, not with the Plame leak.
Reid says that the Wilson/Plame brouhaha proves that the Bush administration lied about the war. This was practically the entire Democratic Party platform last year — and it lost them the White House and four seats in the Senate. One would think that going back to the well a year later would be stupid beyond belief, but apparently Reid forgot about that big poll taken last November. He also forgot about this bipartisan report from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which outlines exactly how Wilson’s report in fact bolstered the case that Iraq still wanted to get material for nuclear weapons — and that Wilson had lied about it in leaks to the New York Times, the Washington Post, and then in his own editorial and book. He also lied about how he got his mission to Niger, and has yet to explain how he managed to get that mission and not sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Further, if Reid wanted to really investigate all this, he should be throwing the doors to the Senate wide open, shining a light on the corruption he claims exists in this issue. What he’s doing, however, is merely venting the same old bromides that the Democrats have screamed for the past two years at an electorate that has long since tired of their crybaby, whining tactics. He’s locked the doors to give it an aura of authenticity. Instead, it looks like a big, heaping helping of pompous impotence.
The press should take careful note of this. In all of the debate over the intelligence and diplomacy leading up to the Iraq War, the Republicans never even entertained locking the doors on the Senate or Congress for the debate. Not once. They offered full public hearings on the issues, and only in committee — and only when appropriate — closed hearings on specifically classified issues. Rule 21 should have been reserved for only the most dire circumstances; instead, Reid has abused it for his petulant tantrums.
Will those in the Fourth Estate stand idly by while the Senate locks its doors in their faces?
UPDATE: Some of my liberal friends (I mean that honestly, not sarcastically) in the comments want to argue that it takes a secret session of the full Senate to discuss intelligence. If so, why is this the first time in 25 years it has been found necessary to do so? When the issue of Iraq came up in 1998 to debate the change of policy on Iraq to a commitment to regime change — discussing the same intelligence on WMD that proved out-of-date five years later — the GOP held that in open session, where the American electorate could keep an eye on the proceedings.
I guess when Harry Reid talks on intelligence, the Democrats want no one to listen to what he has to say. Maybe because he doesn’t speak with intelligence on the subject.
This has nothing to do with debating intelligence, and everything to do with flexing what little muscle the Democrats can muster in the Senate. They want to show what will happen if the Byrd option gets invoked. Lindsay Graham and Mike DeWine has given the GOP enough votes to pass it with their comments yesterday and Sunday. It has nothing to do with anything other than that — and if anyone thinks Reid has anything more altruistic in mind, they simply haven’t paid attention.
This is the Left on a Hissy Fit. Any Questions?
November hasn’t been a good month for Democrats in recent history.
Last week, Patrick ‘Elliot Ness’ Fitzgerald dropped the ball on their one-yard line,
Rule 21 Invoked In Senate
Harry Reid has invoked Rule 21in the Senate today without preliminary discussion with Senator Bill Frist. This is the first time this has happened in 25 years. Senator Frist is furious. Bill Frist reply: I can not trust Harry Reid for the next year and…
Captain, my captain
Captain Ed writes:
Will those in the Fourth Estate stand idly by while the Senate locks its doors in their faces?
Secret sessions aren’t all that rare. There were a bunch when the Senate was evaluating the Articles of Impeachment against President Clinton
Senate In Closed Session
Breaking on Fox News (h/t Sean Hannity):
The U.S. Senate went into closed session Tuesday after Democrats enacted a rare parliamentary rule forcing the shut down of the Senate so senators could speak in a classified session about the lead-up to the w…
What is Rule 21?
The US Senate Rule 21
1. On a motion made and seconded to close the doors of the Senate, on the discussion of any business which may, in the opinion of a Senator, require secrecy, th…
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Cough Miers cough.
While I was stuck in court all day on my day off it appears that a whole bunch of Joe Wilson Liberal Communist Symp…
No more needs to be said
The dems pull a stunt in the Senate. CQ responds: This shows the emptiness of Democrats, both in head and heart. As Bill Frist said afterwards, the minority party proves it has nothing to contribute except cheap political stunts….
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Fire! Fire! Fire!
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Fight, Fight!
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A couple of dead soldiers a day does not a failure make.
It is unfortunate that lives are lost…
Reeps are faced with the grimmest of prospects:
Considering how often Reep apologists cite the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, I would think more of them would have read as far as page 2 . . .