>> When the chamber reopened about two hours later,
>> Frist named a bipartisan task force to report on
>> the intelligence committee's progress.
But he was pissed, and what the Dems got was content-free.
> It would seem that the Dems won again and forced
> the Pubbies to cave.
I'd like to think not. The Senate has historically been
very demanding that its members observe the decorum.
The rule 21 gambit was essentially a single-shot pistol,
and its unannounced use violated the decorum. There may
be consequences for the Dems, and we may not see obvious
public connections, like ...
... Frist privately encouraging the WH to squash these
roaches.
Well .. I guess you didn't hear Pat Roberts' statement about this whole thing. He told Brit Hume that he was going to release all the statements he had from senate intel dems - exposing them.
That doesn't sound like a cave to me. Also, Roberts said that the meeting was already scheduled - but the dems had been stalling and stalling - because the dems are not happy because their investigation has not implicated Bush and they wanted to keep digging to find something.
Roberts also said that he took the post 9/11 statements about the war and removed all the names from the statements - wanting the dems to vote on the validity of the statements without knowing who made them. The dems balked and said they wouldn't consider doing that - and we know why - because they would be exposed for what they said at the time - and what they're saying now.
Frist may be sounding like he's caving - but the meeting was already scheduled.