Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Harry Reid grows a pair
Harry Reid forced the Senate into a closed session to embarass Frist and company into finally setting into motion the long-delayed second phase of the Senate's Iraq WMD/Intelligence investigation.
Frist was derisive in his post-session comments, which says to me that the 'publicans are a bit embarassed to be seen as obstructionists when so large a majority of the country has turned against the war and is so distrustful of the Bush Administration.
It looks like
1) The Dems have rocked the R's back on their heels a bit (with a bit of a helping shove from Patrick Fitzgerald), and
2) Democrats are (re-)learning how to play the news cycles - Bush made a speech today - something about funding for avian flu prevention - and Reid's play wiped it off the critical evening news leads.
Reid's office released a statement to the press that blasted the Administration's cooked intelligence and asked some very pointed questions. Without (yet) saying it in so many words, it looks like Senate Democrats are finally coming around to a better answer for the question "If you knew in 2003 what you know now, would you have authorized the Iraq invasion?" Still begs the question of why they were such pushovers in the first place, but it's something...
If Katrina was the turning point for Bush's popular support, Fitzmas might be seen as the point where the Dems started to get their nerve back. At least I hope so.
Frist was derisive in his post-session comments, which says to me that the 'publicans are a bit embarassed to be seen as obstructionists when so large a majority of the country has turned against the war and is so distrustful of the Bush Administration.
It looks like
1) The Dems have rocked the R's back on their heels a bit (with a bit of a helping shove from Patrick Fitzgerald), and
2) Democrats are (re-)learning how to play the news cycles - Bush made a speech today - something about funding for avian flu prevention - and Reid's play wiped it off the critical evening news leads.
Reid's office released a statement to the press that blasted the Administration's cooked intelligence and asked some very pointed questions. Without (yet) saying it in so many words, it looks like Senate Democrats are finally coming around to a better answer for the question "If you knew in 2003 what you know now, would you have authorized the Iraq invasion?" Still begs the question of why they were such pushovers in the first place, but it's something...
If Katrina was the turning point for Bush's popular support, Fitzmas might be seen as the point where the Dems started to get their nerve back. At least I hope so.
