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Why the Democrat Senators Pulled Their Rule 21 Stunt
Forcing the Republicans to cave...
[Jim Kouri] 11/3/05

On Tuesday, the Democrat Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid invoked the so-called Rule 21, which forced the US Senate to go into a closed, secret session. Reid's rationale for this rarely used tactic was that the Republicans were not seriously investigating the intelligence used in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Needless to say, Republican senators, especially Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist, were incensed over the shenanigans of people such as Senator Reid, Senator Dick "US Soldiers are Nazis" Durbin and others. The usual process for invoking Rule 21 entails the lead senator implement Rule 21 notifying the other political party's lead senator prior to demanding a secret senate session. This was not done and Senator Frist likened Reid's action to a "slap in the face."

The mainstream news media, of course, played the Democrat Party's actions straight, inferring that the Democrats sincerely wished an unbiased investigation into the intelligence failures that led to the US not finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq after the US and coalition invasion. However, once again the news media are being deceptive with the American people as reporters perform their function as the propaganda arm of the Democrat Party.

For instance, the news contained no mention of the leaked November 2003 strategy memorandum which emanated from Democrat Senator Jay Rockefeller's office. Basically it was the strategy designed to hurt the Bush Administration no matter what a bipartisan investigation revealed. Part of that Rockefeller memo stated:

"Pull the majority along as far as we can on issues that may lead to major new disclosures regarding improper or questionable conduct by administration officials. We are having some success in that regard [with the CIA leak investigation].

"Prepare to launch an independent investigation when it becomes clear we have exhausted the opportunity to usefully collaborate with the majority. We can pull the trigger on an independent investigation of the administration's use of intelligence at any time. But we can only do so once."

It seems that on Tuesday, the Democrats pulled that trigger. There are several reasons why the Democrat senators implemented the Rockefeller strategy (Number Three being the most interesting and significant):

1) The liberals were angry over the fact that Patrick Fitzgerald's two-year investigation into the Valerie Plame-CIA leak case did not result in significant indictments of key Bush Administration staff. The only White House staff member indicted was Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and that indictment was for allegedly lying during the investigation and grand jury. No one was indicted for outing a CIA covert agent because no one violated the law applicable to such an offense. More importantly, for the Democrats, Karl Rove was not indicted.

During the aftermath of the Libby indictment, the Democrats, their mouthpieces and the mainstream media noticeably exaggerated the seriousness of Libby's indictment. They went as far as insinuating Libby was indicted for revealing classified information, which he was not. By Monday, the Democrats realized their rhetoric was overreaching and having little affect on the Bush Administration. It was too easy for people to logon to the internet and discover that, for instance, Joe Wilson is a chronic liar.

2) The Democrats became unhinged when President Bush capitulated to the wishes of conservatives and nominated a staunch conservative to the US Supreme Court. Judge Sam Alito is a man who's a constitutional originalist in every sense of the word and he looks good on paper and in person. Judge Alito is equal to Chief Justice John Roberts and this infuriates the Dems. They know that Judge Alito is destined to sit on the Supreme Court. Unlike in the days of Judge Robert Bork's nomination, when Democrats lied and distorted with impunity and with the valuable help of the liberal media, they do not have the power any longer to distort and lie without a fight from the alternative media such as talk radio, internet news websites and bloggers. Also, their tactic of calling conservatives, even moderates, far-right extremists or out of the mainstream is not working because the majority of Americans realize these leftist senators are talking about them.

3) This is not known generally because the mainstream news media decided to stay mum about it: the Democrats don't want their statements to be included in the final senate report on pre-Iraq intelligence. According to senate staffers, the final report will contain statements made by Senators John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Teddy Kennedy, Jay Rockefeller and many others who claimed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. It will contain statements made by former President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and foreign intelligence leaders all of whom claimed they had evidence that Saddam had -- or was working on -- weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons. The final report will also contain material that refutes allegations leveled at President Bush by the left's pride and joy, Joe Wilson. The Democrats do not want this information disseminated to Americans.

In other words, the Democrats would appear complicit in moving the United States towards war in Iraq if a final senate reports contains their quotes. Their rhetoric would appear hypocritical if they continued their rants against the Bush Administration.

The Democrats invoked Rule 21 in order to claim the Republicans were dragging their feet on finishing their investigation and report. But indeed it was the Democrats who were blocking the completion of the senate report. They do not want the American people to know the truth. They do not want the American people reminded that in the run-up to the Iraq war, most of the Democrat senators were on board for the preemptive attack on Saddam. One can only hope and pray the Republicans don't cave in to Democrat demands, which is their usual reaction to Democrat Party vitriol. Perhaps the GOP will realize they have to actively fight the Democrats who are playing for keeps. But don't hold your breath. tOR

copyright 2005 Jim Kouri

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