Redstate

By Mark Kilmer Posted in Elections — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

We were back to normalcy this week, after about a month with the aberrational death of Terri Schindler-Schiavo and the natural passing of Pope John Paul II. Some highlights, I suppose, were Jay Rockefeller blaming John Bolton for the decision to go to invade Iraq, Chuck Schumer's amusing insistence that the Senate is a deliberative saucer, Harry Reid's assertion that the Republicans would shut the Senate down, the Senate would not shut down, and that the slow down will be good because the Senate would have to work, etc.

And the John McCain quote from Face the Nation: "If you had a liberal President and a Democrat-controlled Senate, it could do great damage."

[READ ON FOR THE REVIEW]

ROBERTS AND ROCKY TALK INTEL ON MTP. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts and his Dem understudy, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, dropped in on host Tim Russert on NBC's Meet the Press, where Rockefeller spun his wheels.

Russert agreed with the WMD Commissions recent findings that U.S. intelligence had failed bigtime on Iraq. He added that the commission's findings "were very duplicative of our own [Senate Intell Committee's] efforts... [and] really confirmed what we found." He has learned that they cannot look at any intelligence "at face value, we're going to be very pro-active."

Russert cited a Bob Woodward book as if it were a transcript or even an eye-witness' account, going off about George Tenet telling the President that the WMD case against Saddam Hussein was a "slam dunk." Russert asked: "How did we get from 'slam dunk' to 'dead wrong'"?

Rockefeller's wheels started to spin. Hyping of intelligence, he muttered. Misuse of intelligence, pressuring intelligence gatherers. The old Dem accusations which both the Senate Intelligence Committee's own report and the WMD Commission's report plainly refuted. But their lodged in the Dem talking points.

Rockefeller insisted that the Bush Administration had "made up its mind shortly after 9-11" to go to war with Iraq. They pressured the intelligence analysts and "molded public opinion" to that end. He blamed, specifically, John Bolton, for whose nomination to be UN ambassador he said he would not vote. Russert asked for specifics to back his charge, but Rockefeller could only mumble and offer vague hearsay.

Rockefeller reiterated that intelligence was misused, shaped, and distorted. He said this had to be stopped "for the next thirty years in the war on terror." Is that his own estimate on how long this war will last? Russert let the statement lie.

Russert wanted to know about the fraudulent Iraqi source called 'Curveball.' Roberts denied that 'Curveball' was linked to media darling Ahmed Chalabi, (I personally think 'Curveball ' is a composite of Chalabi, Jordan's Hashemite King Abdullah, and Bob Woodward, but I'm probably wrong.) Roberts did intimate: "We're going to find a lot more out about 'Curveball.'"

CORNYN AND SCHUMER ON FNS. Host Wallace talked to Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Chuck Schumer (D-New York) on FOX News Sunday.

Chuck's thesis was that "there is a whole drumbeat on the hard right" to threaten judges who do not agree with them. He pointed out that the Republicans won the last election, but barely, "razor-thin," etc. He argued that the "hard right" were insistent upon "one-party rule" and an attack on "judicial independence."

Wallace asked if the filibuster itself weren't an attack on judicial independence. No, Schumer insisted, because they've approved most of the judges nominated by President Bush. Throughout the segment, he repeated that they had confirmed most of the judges, even though they were "hard right." This prompted Senator Cornyn to question the dichotomy: on the one hand, the Democrats boasted that they had confirmed most of the judges but blocked a few for ideological reasons; on the other hand, Schumer insisted that they were all ideological extremists.

Cornyn said that this was part of a Democrat game, to convince the public that the Republicans were under the control of the "far right." Playing P.R. with judges? Kewl.

Schumer insisted that the judges were radical extremists who say that the New Deal was a mistake and we should return to the labor laws of the 19th century. He complained that Bush doesn't consult with Democrats when nominating judges, as he insisted Clinton did with Senator Hatch. He accused Republicans (Cornyn and DeLay, though not directly by name) and intimidating judges by implying violence.

Schumer said he has talked to many "moderate Republicans" who have been intimidated by the Party Leadership into voting for the "nuclear option." He said that Senate risked becoming "Banana Republic." The camera was on Cornyn, who laughed to mask incredulity. He told Wallace that Schumer's remarks were "over the top."

Cornyn insisted that the Republicans merely wanted to restore majority rule. Schumer insisted that the Framers of the Constitution never intended for judges to be confirmed with a mere majority vote. He started in with that line from high school civics class, that the Senate was meant to be "the saucer" where matters "cool off." As the saucer where matters cool off, the deliberative body, the Senate was to be the main check on Presidential power. (In the past, he has argued that the judiciary was the main check on Presidential power, now for his new purposes, it is the Senate, which was designed in part to be a check on the raw people-power of the House, which was notion was smashed by the Seventeenth Amendment.)

Cornyn said that "what's nuclear is shutting down the Senate." Schumer said that the Dems would not shut down the Senate; rather, the "will enforce the rules of the Senate more rigorously." Cornyn explained that since the Senate operates almost entirely on unanimous consent, demanding voice votes on every matter will, in effect, shut down the Senate.

'T IS HARRY REID ON FTN. Host Bob Schieffer's first guest on Face the Nation was Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Said CBS's post-Dan interim anchor: "Spring has finally come to Washington." Yep, the Cherry Blossoms.

Schieffer called the judicial filibuster "one of the oldest rules in the Senate" and introduced Reid. Reid said that the Democrats have confirmed 204 judges and are blocking only the most extreme. He hinted that this was merely to knock the Senate GOP down a few pegs when he insisted that "it appears that they want to get whatever they want." Indeed, that happens.

Schieffer asked what the Democrats will do if the Republicans rule that judges can be confirmed with a simple majority. Reid argued that the Democrats "won't shut down the Senate. They [Republicans] will." This is a very careless argument, as the Democrats would be the ones slowing down the Senate by demanding votes instead of operating with unanimous consent.

Schieffer asked a few times, Reid repeated himself, and Schieffer told him he was not answering the question. Reid said that there would be no unanimous consents, the Senate will slow down, and it would be the Republicans who would do this. (He seemed to be arguing that the Democrats would have no choice but to slow the Senate down, thus it would be the Republicans' fault. This is patently false.)

Reid insisted that it would be a good thing for the Senate to spend more time on the Senate floor instead of what he insisted were "three-day work weeks." Mike Duffy of TIME mag, along for the questioning, asked Reid why they do not then have a traditional filibuster, the kind in which everyone has to stay on the Senate floor and talk for hours. Reid blamed the GOP leadership for this, then said that the Democrats had been reasonable. He merely wants the Republicans to reciprocate, he said.

He accused the Republicans of threatening to use the Stalin Doctrine -- based on an Edwin Vieira line at a little conference in DC yesterday, taken out of context -- though he admittedd that he'd only heard this intimated.

Reid said: "I don't know about Bolton.... We're not going to let a guy who's going to be an embarrassment to the country to go forward."

Reid declared that the Senate "should not become an extension of the House of Representatives," ignoring that it essentially became like the House when the Seventeenth Amendment was ratified in 1913, allowing for direct election of U.S. Senators. But, without using Schumer's flying saucer term, he was repeating the old "deliberative body" sentiment.

On Social Security, he said that it "is not in crisis." He needs "six out of fifty-five [Republican Senators to vote his way]... for the good of the Republic." Why? He insisted that the President wants to "privatize" Social Security, and "privatization is a buzzword for destruction."

Schieffer, buying into the Dem line that the President has suggested privatizing Social Security, asked: "Do you have the votes to stop privatization?" This sounds ominous. Do the allies have the troops to stop Hitler's advance across Europe?

MCCAIN ON FTN. Speaking for the "other side," Schieffer had the ubiquitous John McCain. Schieffer asked him ominously: "Do you really think Frist is going to do this thing?" McCain said that this dispute over judges is "really a symptom of the fierce partisan battle" going on in the Senate. He pointed out that Reid was not firm on shutting down the Senate, "because of the experience of 1994," when Newton shut down the government. He actually shut the government for six days in 1995, but either way, it played well for President Clinton and poorly for Gingrich and the Republicans.

McCain noted that the Senate is "traditionally different," in that they have "traditionally protected the rights of the minority [party]." He also noted that this was a slippery slope, matter-of-factly observing: "If you had a liberal President and a Democrat-controlled Senate, it could do great damage." Only John McCain could get away with that line!

RICK AND DODD ON THE STEPH SHOW. We had Senators Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) and Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut) on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Santorum said that the Catholic churches with the problems were the one who stuck to the Church's dogma, not the ones which tried to assimilate to various societies.

Steph started talking about Congress asserting its authority over the Courts. Santorum cited Article I, Congress' power to control the size and number of the Courts. Steph asked about impeaching Justice Kennedy, and Santorum said that not Kennedy, but they should impeach the ones who have broken the law.

Dodd claimed that the Framers of the Constitution thought the judges should be turned loose with no oversight over the Courts.

Santorum insisted that "when we have courts acting to take a person's life," there should be a federal review. He is working with Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and others to do that.

Santorum said that though one might not like some of the things Tom DeLay has done, he doesn't seem to have broken the law. He thinks DeLay has been effective, and that the media are looking for everything they can find on him.

Dodd says DeLay "has become the poster child" for Democrats who find things wrong with the Republicans, and keeping him there gives them "an easy target."

Steph mentioned unspecified evidence that John Bolton pressured intelligence officials. Santorum said that he'd have to look a the evidence. He strongly supports Bolton, who brings the right approach to an organization in deep trouble. He called it good for the U.N., which has to get on track.

Dodd says the evidence is clear that Bolton tried to have intelligence analysts removed because they disagreed with him. He does not believe that if this is the case, Bolton is qualified to represent the United States at the U.N.

IRAQI PRESIDENT JALAL TALABANI ON LE. On CNN's Late Edition, host Wolf Blitzer spoke with new Iraqi President Jalal Talabani after telling us that it was "8 PM in Baghdad." (He has a list of cities. CNN is global, international, etc.) Talabani said that he had wanted to be "a professor at the University," but was now President.

He said that Iraq was "in great need" to have U.S. forces in place until they can fend for themselves. It predicted "within two years, we can do it," but he said that they will stay in close cooperation with the forces "who liberated our country."

American withdrawal will one day "be discussed in very friendly climate between the Iraqi people and the American people."

Wolf wanted to know if Talabani were concerned that Sharia would become the law of the land in Iraq. Talabani said that anyone can ask for what they want, Islam was the religion of Iraq, but they will not have an Islamic government.

Talabani talked of the Constitution "and the concept called 'consensus.'" They seem new to this.

He reiterated that there were several kinds of "terrorists": Iraqi Ba'athists, foreigners, and criminals. He hopes that they can come to a peace with the Iraqis, but the rest of the "terrorists," they'll have to deal with.

He grouped Moqtada al Sadr with Abu Musab Zarqawi, though they were extremists, "part of this criminals."

He expects the trial of Saddam Hussein to begin shortly after Ibrahim al-Jaafari is formally elected prime minister and chooses a cabinet.

He said they never struggled for independence for Kurdistan; rather, they fought for Kurdish rights within the framework of a democratic Iraq. This is some serious revisionism, and one wonders if Russert would have called him on it, but Blitzer wisely stuck to the story.

Blitzer asked him what it will be like to be a figurehead while the real power of the government rests with the prime minister, and Talabani insisted that as president, he will be powerful and will "overlook all the functions of government." He also pointed out that he has two vice-presidents.

[Joe Biden on LE announced the he will vote against John Bolton, but he demands to know if Bolton had some intelligence analysts fired for disagreeing with him. Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar said he has seen the interviews and is not convinced that Bolton did anything of the kind. He said that a dislike for Bolton's personality is not a reason to oppose his nomination.]

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Methinks these folks had been breathing too many Cherry Blossoms, and perhaps the FDA will come up with a reg.