I just turned on MSNBC and CNN and there's breaking news:

Bill Frist is whining that the Democrats have hijacked the Senate and are meeting in closed session, I gather, without any Republicans allowed. They're supposedly discussing the Libby indictment and pre-war intelligence. Frist, of course, is making a big stink out of it, saying it's unheard of, it's a personal affront to him, etc. Finally, the Dems. are growing a backbone! It's too early for there to be any written reports about this yet, but stay tuned . . .

Okay, they didn't keep the Repugs out, but what they did do was take an open session where they were supposed to be discussing trimming the federal deficit and turn it into a closed session where they were discussing the CIA leak and pre-war intelligence. Why? Because, for over a year, the Dems. have been trying to get the Senate Intelligence Committee to work with them on getting to the bottom of what really happened in the run-up to war, but they've been stymied at every turn. So they felt they had to do it like this. And no one notified Frist or any other Rep. leaders that they were going to do it. So now they're all spitting mad.

Too f*cking bad, I say. Maybe if they stopped hijacking the American government and gave it back to the people the Dems wouldn't have to hijack the Senate.

It's about time!

Here's the story:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/01/sen...q.ap/index.html

Democrats force Senate into unusual closed session
Majority leader decries move as a publicity stunt

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session Tuesday, questioning intelligence that led to the Iraq war and deriding a lack of congressional inquiry.

"I demand on behalf of the America people that we understand why these investigations aren't being conducted," Democratic leader Harry Reid said.

Taken by surprise, Republicans derided the move as a political stunt.

"The United States Senate has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership," said Majority Leader Bill Frist. "They have no convictions, they have no principles, they have no ideas," the Republican leader said.

Reid demanded the Senate go into closed session. The public was ordered out of the chamber, the lights were dimmed, and the doors were closed. No vote is required in such circumstances.

Pre-war intelligence at issue
Reid's move shone a spotlight on the continuing controversy over intelligence that President Bush cited in the run-up to the war in Iraq. Despite prewar claims, no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, and some Democrats have accused the administration of manipulating the information that was in their possession.

Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was indicted last Friday in an investigation that touched on the war, the leak of the identity of a CIA official married to a critic of the administration's Iraq policy. (Full story)

"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," Reid said before invoking Senate rules that led to the closed session.

Libby resigned from his White House post after being indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, making false statements and perjury.

Democrats contend that the unmasking of Valerie Plame was retribution for her husband, Joseph Wilson, publicly challenging the Bush administration's contention that Iraq was seeking to purchase uranium from Africa. That claim was part of the White House's justification for going to war.

A rare move
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, said Reid was making "some sort of stink about Scooter Libby and the CIA leak."

A former majority leader, Lott said a closed session was appropriate for such overarching matters as impeachment and chemical weapons -- the two topics that last sent the senators into such sessions.

In addition, Lott said, Reid's move violated the Senate's tradition of courtesy and consent. But there was nothing in Senate rules enabling Republicans to thwart Reid's effort.

As Reid spoke, Frist met in the back of the chamber with a half-dozen senior GOP senators, including Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, who bore the brunt of Reid's criticism. Reid said Roberts reneged on a promise to fully investigate whether the administration exaggerated and manipulated intelligence leading up to the war.

I was watching C-span 2 live when Harry Reid called for it... I just wish I could have heard the words exchanged while they were in private session.

Yeah, I'd have given a lot to be a fly on the wall . . .

:lol:

On a serious note, what do you think will come of this? Do you think a proper investigation into the lies leading up to the Iraq War will come out?

I just love seeing the republicans get humiliated once again Frist was acting like a baby getting ticked off about this closed session.

Gee the republicans sure don't look so tough now. :lol:

Reid 2 Republicans 0

I have serious doubts about that . . . <_<

I love to see it too, Frist is a big baby, and Trent Lott??? I was hoping never again to hear anything from that lying racist. He should just shut the hell up and disappear.

I applaud the Dems for doing this. It's about time they got fed up with being run over by the lying reps. They have shone that they do have a backbone and that we will not be ignored any longer. It's time to fight for ourselves and the country. Frist was really pissed and I am so glad that Harry Reid finally slapped him down (so to speak) .

I just heard a reporter from the New York Post on Joe Scarborough refer to what the Dems. did in the Senate today as a "temper tantrum." :rolleyes:

Even the house dems also took a stand yesterday. What an unbelievable day.

This is good. As far as the Senate Intelligence Committe report goes, or at least the first version of it. I noticed that a lot of Republicans have cited it as something to try to discredit Joe Wilson as far as whether Valorie Plame suggested him for the trip or not. I looked at a number of parts iof that report, and first off, there seems to be too many redactions, second, it's a scanned document, not a typed format that allows someone to search through its text, and third, instead of assessing where the intelligence went wrong, it seems to be asserting that Saddam Hussein had weapons that we have known for over a year now he does not have.