Frist Disbands Senate Intel Committee Over Memogate

NewsMax ^ | 11/8/03 | Limbacher

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has temporarily disbanded the Senate Intelligence Committee until committee Democrats reveal the identity of the author of a memo outlining a their plan to politicize intelligence data in a bid undermine President Bush's reelection.

"The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has been harmed by a blatant partisan attack," the Tennessee Republican said in a floor speech yesterday, concluding that the memo had rendered the committee "incapable of meeting its responsibilities to the United States Senate and to the American people."

"Those responsible for this memo appear to be more focused on winning the White House than they are on winning the war against terror," Frist complained before adding, "There will be no more pulling along and no more useful collaboration on partisan schemes."

Committee Chairman Pat Roberts echoed Frist's decision to shut his committee down, saying, "Unless and until this reprehensible attack plan and strategy to derail the committee's important work is properly addressed, I am afraid that it will be impossible to return to business as usual in the committee."

A committee meeting scheduled for yesterday was canceled, and none has been scheduled for next week, a senior committee staff member told the Washington Post.

Frist also demanded that Democrats implicated in the Memogate scandal deliver "a personal apology" to Sen. Roberts.

Though retiring Georgia Democratic Sen. Zell Miller has called the memo, first leaked to radio host Sean Hannity on Tuesday, "perhaps treasonous," other Democrats circled the wagons on Friday.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid complained on the Senate floor that the memo had been "pilfered" by Republicans then leaked to the media, saying that act was just as offensive as anything revealed by the controversial document.

[leprechaun9]

AW, let's not be too harsh on Rockefeller - he's is only taking the actions of the traitors Torricelli and Leaky Leahy to the next step!

It increases their standing in the Democrap Party!

[Clintonfatigued]

How's this for an idea: hold the Senate in session indefinitely until the author of this treasonous memo is revealed.

[Lael]

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has temporarily disbanded the Senate Intelligence Committee until committee Democrats reveal the identity of the author of a memo outlining a their plan to politicize intelligence data in a bid undermine President Bush's reelection.

Looks like he MIGHT have grown a pair!!

[TaxRelief]

The story is true

according to the Washington Post

Frist Freezes Senate Probe of Prewar Iraq Data

By Walter Pincus and Dana Priest Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, November 8, 2003; Page A18

Angry about a leaked Democratic memo, the Republican leadership of the Senate yesterday took the unusual step of canceling all business of the committee investigating prewar intelligence on Iraq.

Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) called on the author of the memo -- which laid out a possible Democratic strategy to extend the investigation to include the White House and executive branch -- to "identify himself or herself . . . disavow this partisan attack in its entirety" and deliver "a personal apology" to Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence.

Excerpted from Washington Post

[LibertarianLiz]

My surprise at your list (on the Dems side) is that her heinous, HRC, is not listed. That whole memo just stinks of Clinton-style politics. Perhaps she had some behind the scenes input.

[CyberAnt]

You are so right and I believe all of us should send another email and tell Frist .. NO APOLOGY will ever mend the damage the dems have done.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

No problem. AND, hold the Sinate in indefinite 24x7 session until ALL of GW's judicial appointments receive a vote. We need hardball+++!

[CyberAnt]

Please send Frist that message!

[savedbygrace]

Of course he failed to mention that the Republican who got the memo from a Dim staffer was Sean Hannity. And he ain't gonna tell who he got it from.

[savedbygrace]

Here's what I wrote earlier:

Senator wants memo writer identified and to apologize

Posted by savedbygrace to MHGinTN
On News/Activism 11/08/2003 9:46 AM CST #60 of 70

At the least, Frist should announce that until the staffer is fired, the committee will not be holding any further sessions on anything. The White House should announce that it isn't in the best interests of national security to provide any classified information to the committee.

The word should be: Rockefeller and the other Democrats on the committee cannot be trusted with national security.

However, the problem with the "fire the staffer" idea is that Rockefeller wrote the memo himself, or gave such detailed instructions to the staffer that any move to fire the staffer might push him or her to reveal too much about Rockefeller's involvement.

[Prov3456]

Besides being a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Evan Bayh is also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. So is HRC.

Both of them are also on the "Emerging Threats and Capabilities" sub-committee of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

My theory: HRC innocently handed Bayh a sealed envelope and asked him to do her a favor and deliver it to Senator Rockefeller. In it was the "final draft" of said memo.

Just a thought....

[octobersky]

Frist Disbands Senate Intel Committee Over Memogate What an unexpected but pleasant surprise!

[cardinal4]

SUMMARY: Intelligence issues are clearly secondary to the public's concern regarding the insurgency in Iraq. Yet we have an important role to play in revealing the misleading, if not flagrantly dishonest, methods and motives of senior administration officials who made the case for unilateral preemptive war.

This statement alone should reserve a room for someone right next to Aldrich Ames. Id like one of these traitor commies to tell ME that the Intel is of a secondary concern...

[JasonC]

I did? (lol).

Frist has done something like 100 heart transplants. Try to do that as a shrinking violet...

[CyberAnt]

Hmmmm? Does that mean we don't have to listen to their constant "misled the American people" ad nauseum ..??

I see now what they were doing. They were using the word "misled" in order to establish doubt and then they were hoping to find something/anything upon which they would make the word "misled" stick.

We need to tell Frist .. NO APOLOGY - JUST DEMAND RESIGNATIONS.

[gnawbone]

The word treason has been thrown around a lot during the last couple of days. Coincidently, we are at war.

Treason while at war ............ hmmmmmmm, seems like "seriously criticized" might not measure up to the required standard.

I know, I know. But the Democrats have been calling it a war .... you know, like when they accuse Bush of saying the war was over (which he never did). So, I say we're at war and you know what that means for treasoners ....

[BOBWADE]

yahoo!!!

[Robert A Cook PE]

Yep.

(I still frankly don't believe this ....)

[ninenot]

Frist has a SPINE!!!

Emergency surgery was Thursday, first results with this announcement.

[CyberAnt]

Of course the dims don't want to give up HRC .. especially since she probably has goods on them which they don't want known. My contention all along has been that HRC gets these dims to do stuff for her (like bash the President), because she has information they don't want made public.

They all just need to RESIGN! They are an embarassment to the dignity of the Senate of the United States of America.