Posted on 11/01/2005 4:59:00 PM PST by wagglebee
Accusing Republicans of ignoring questions about pre-war intelligence, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session today, igniting anger from GOP leaders.
Before calling for the rare motion, which was seconded by his assistant minority leader, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Reid said his colleagues across the aisle "have repeatedly chosen to protect the Republican administration rather than get to the bottom of what happened and why."
Speaking to reporters in the hall outside the Senate chamber, Majority Leader Bill Frist shot back, charging the Senate "has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership."
"They have no convictions, they have no principles, they have no ideas," he said.
Frist said the Democratic Party leadership did not warn him in advance of the move, which Republicans called a "political stunt."
"It means from now on, for the next year and half, I can't trust Senator Reid," the Tennessee lawmaker said.
Durbin told reporters the Democratic Senate staff notified Republican staff as the session began.
Frist explained that the closed session meant all electronic devices had to be removed and staff and media were barred from the room.
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., a former majority leader, said Reid's move violated the Senate's tradition of courtesy and consent.
But the rules, he said, provided no way for Republicans to stop Reid.
In his speech before issuing the motion, Reid said that in the wake of the indictment Friday of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the American people and U.S. troops deserved to know details of how the U.S. got into the Iraq war.
Reid said Libby was the highest level official to be indicted in some 130 years, then asked: "Is it any wonder, Mr. President, I am worried about my grandchildren?"
Reid previously spoke of concern about his family's future welfare as he ticked off a list of familiar Democratic complaints about the performance of the Bush administration on issues ranging from the war to the economy.
The minority leader said the Libby indictment "provides a window into what this is really all about, how this administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions."
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters the reason for the closed door session was to ask the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., why, "despite repeated promises," the panel has not complied with Democrats requests to conduct an investigation into problems with pre-war intelligence.
About two hours after the closing, the Senate returned to an open session in which Roberts defiantly insisted his panel is addressing the issue, on schedule, and called the Democrats' move a "political stunt," noting he had a stronger term for it, but "would leave it at that."
Prior to the open session, the senators agreed to appoint a six-member task force with three members from each party, to review the Intelligence Committee's progress on "Phase 2" of its work and report back to their respective caucuses by Nov. 14.
The first phase resulted in a 511-page report submitted last summer that addressed flaws of an Iraq intelligence estimate assembled by the country's top analysts in October 2002.
Roberts said the panel had started the second phase of the review but not completed it. He had intended all along, he said, to continue the work next week.
Has Harry Reid ever heard of Dan Rostenkowski?
I sure will!!
And, by the way, you have a great Bio page!!
Thanks, George. Glad you liked it!
That's debatable.
I don't know if your voting in Navada is as bad as it is in Washington State where I'm from, but Harry Reid only won his 1998 race by 428 votes. The only reason he skated last time is because Gibbons obviously wanted to be Governor more then Senator.
Dan who???
Dingy Harry only cares if the person is a Republican or a conservative.
No one else counts, ESPECIALLY if Clinton is the last name!!
That's true!!
Clarke County (Las Vegas) is another reason. The rest of the state is safe for the GOP.
I lived in Reno, and they couldn't stand Harry Reid there!!
Was it senate tradition to boo and heckle a presidents state of the union address, from that point on the rats should get nothing but a kick up the a--. What do you have to say now my quisling senators?
I say the Repubs call an all out war on the Dems. A fight to the finish. Not pc or political speak but a war of ideas. Republicans are the majority and I for one expect them to act like it for a change. If President Bush wanted to get his base back and get them motivated, an all out war with the Dems would do it. I think most people are as sick of all the "politics as usual" as I am.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Sep-29-Thu-2005/news/3594772.html
(aplogies for not being able to properly "click-ize' the link....but it's worth a peek)
Why can't we do both? :)
Wifey was on the phone with a pal who swears that Harry's mum was a hooker and he was raised in a Nevada Ho-house.....only thing mentioned in his biography, though, is that his father was a drunk; no mention of Mom.
What a hoot if the above is true....your bio shows only the parent "you're most proud of", and doesn't mention the other.
It is time for Reid to be voted out of office. We need to do the same thing with him that was done with daschle; expose him for all to see back home.
The problems with pre-war intelligence is due to the clinton WH; the dems cannot bear the truth. They cannot deal with the truth, for if it came out, they would be finished forever.
I think the left is grinding the dem party into the ground. They will never recover if they do not stop it. They will be a party that is eternally marginalized and a JOKE!
They've chosen to protect him.
This veiled threat is key. This is where they're going next. These vipers have nothing left.
Why did Frist and the GOP ever trust the 'Rats in the first place?!
The exact question I have been asking since Clinton the Pervert was in office.
Was wondering if any Republican senator - including you, have any logical sense to see reality when it's so clear to the rest of us.
What are you trying to prove by this 'getting along' idiotic game you are playing when it's obvious the RATS don't want to participate?
He might as well add anyone with a (D) after their name.
Wake me up when they start dueling. (Yawn)
WOW!!
The parent you're MOST proud of is an alcoholic father??? :-)
Seems to me this is more than just a rumor about his mother.
It also seems to me, that Dingy Harry is a prostitute, just like his mother!!
Well said, and so VERY true!!
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