The Reason For The Dems' Revolting?

Yes, they've always been revolting. Now they're just acting up and need a time-out.

A very interesting thing was reported by Mort Kondracke on Brit Hume yesterday. It's very interesting indeed, but I'm not sure I completely understand what the heck he was trying to say.

Apparently the Dems don't like the way "Phase II" of the intelligence investigation is going -- Intelligence staffers drew up a list of quotes from Bush Administration officials and Republican and Democratic politicians making the case for war, and evaluated each as to what intelligence they were based on.

The tricksy bit? None of the quotes carried an attribution to a particular person. So, Mort said, if you made a big deal about a quote, you might find out that it was made by a Democrat-- or even by yourself.

I'm not sure I buy that-- I imagine that anyone on the Hill can run a Lexis/Nexus search and discover who said what. I imagine the real objection is that the Democrats don't like their own "twistings of intelligence" listed right beside Bush's, and traced back to the same intelligence sources.

But... interesting, anyway, even if maybe I'm misunderstanding it, and even if Mort Kondracke is misunderstanding it too.

Here are a lot of the quotes the Dems don't really want investigated.

Including, of course:

In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members ... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.

- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002

And, even better:

The intelligence which the president shared with us was in line with what we saw in the White House…

-- - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, 2003

Thanks to JoeInDC44 for pointing out that last one.

How dare you distort the intelligence and make specious connections between Saddam and Al Qaeda, Madame Senatrix.

posted by Ace at 12:32 PM

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