CARPE DIEM: SENATE DEMS STUN RETHUGS

Well, I just got into my hotel room (I left Dallas this morning at 6:30 a.m., spent the day in Albuquerque, and arrived in San Diego around 10 p.m.) about ten minutes ago, tuned in to Keith Olbermann and discovered that while I was directing a commercial today the Democratic Senate leadership demonstrated that they still have cojones!

So Bill Frist says he "can't trust Harry Reid." Har de har har har. The entire GOP leadership, from Dubya on down and certainly including Frist, has proven conclusively that the truth is not in them. Since the Republicans gained a majority in Congress, they have systematically excluded Democrats from participating in the legislative process, stonewalled ethics investigations, changed some rules and threatened others.

Harry Reid and Dick Durbin were acting completely within procedure when they invoked Rule 21 to question invoked Rule 21 why a second phase of investigation into prewar intelligence has not been completed. They certainly knew from recent history that left to their own devices Republican Senators would never fulfill their promise to investigate whether public statements by U.S. government officials were substantiated by intelligence information.

Frist showed himself the ultimate hypocrite when he said, "Not with the previous Democratic leader or the current Democratic leader have I been slapped in the face with such an affront to the leadership of this grand institution. Every other time there has been at least consideration for the other side of the aisle before a stunt, and this is a pure stunt, by Senator Reid." There has been no such previous "affront" because Democrats have been exercising the patience of Job expecting Frist and Hastert to demonstrate they are men of their word. The patience has worn thin, thank goodness. The Senate Dems stood tall today and showed some strategic acumen. They seized center stage and returned the national discussion to where it belongs, the Iraq War and the Bushies' responsibility for it, negating Dubya/Rove's attempts to turn our attention away from the Libby indictment to the right-wing's success in forcing a radical conservative's nomination to the Supreme Court. Reid and his fellow Senate Democratic strategists must now stand firm and refuse to compromise with those to whom compromise is merely a delaying ruse while they form their plan to force complete surrender and annihilation of the opposition.

Tags: Rule 21, Harry Reid, Senate Democrats