It's because the depth of corruption and soft treason hits both parties very hard. Bush is being very careful about the cards he's playing, but these Able Danger folks are warning shots to the other side that he can pursue a "scorched earth" path if necessary.
No, they are not "warning shots". They are military officers on military business, not political partisans.
The political partisans can use them as they can, but the officers are not making statements to pursue a political agenda. They are simply telling the truth.
The political Pentagon "spokesman" has no business to be challenging their veracity the way he is. The Administration knows these men are telling the truth. They do not have the right to challenge their veracity, therefore, when they know it is true. That they are doing it in their logrolling game makes them skunks.
I think there are some obvious reasons why certain Republicans may not want to play the blame-game. I noticed this last night when Oreilly was interviewing the former GOP/911 commissioner Slate Gordon...who dismissed both BORe and Schaffer's claims about Able Danger.
While Gorelick obviously raised the bar...and the wall, when she went beyond what was "legally required" I think there are some Republicans who feel responsible for contributing to this "attitude" throughout the '90s...and for good reason.
Coming off of Waco, and the Clinton Administrations proclivities for using personal and private information against its own citizens...and politicians, many just weren't eager to give the government (Clinton) access to more resources that could be used to attack his opponents.
Whether it was the FCC or Telecommunications Acts, some Republicans weren't thrilled with the idea of giving the government more power. If I recall, things like roving wiretaps were opposed by the likes of Bob Barr and other Republicans for fear of how some in the Clinton administratin would use that power.
Without seeing the actual legislation, it just may be that some GOP congress-critters feel that they helped contribute to this "attitude" that fourished through the 90s...and they just don't want to play this blame-game because it may open up a further exposition into their legislation. Either that, or the CLinton's still have a lot of info in their FBI files.