WITH SENATORS LIKE THESE
Over the last few years, I've become convinced that Sen. Orrin Hatch is a first-class boob. He's a genial and nice fellow, but basically a couple of cards shy of a full deck. A boob.
Take the Democrats' Senate Intel Committee memo flap. You know the story by now--someone on or around the Democrats on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which functions on a bi-partisan plateau even down to sharing committee staffers, drafted a memo laying out a grand design for turning that committee's important work into a channel designed to attack and politically damage the President. Once leaked, the Democrats acknowledged that it was legit and then swiftly changed the subject from its contents to how it got out, as though it, not the intel they were planning to use for politics, was classified material.
Well, the Dems put up Sen. Jay Rockefeller as their point-man. It seems apparent now that he also had quite a bit to do with drafting that memo. He denies that, but he is a sharp-tongued partisan much of the time and is the committee's vice chairman. He is in a leadership position, and would be expected to formulate Democrat talking points and strategy. I get a feeling he probably dictated that memo to a staffer, who in a moment of pained conscience leaked it to Sean Hannity. If I'm right, Rockefeller's mistake was in dictating that memo to the one person on his staff who has any sense of the committee's true importance and duties.
Well, from stage right enters Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. Today he agreed with Sen. Zell Miller's assessment, that the memo was a first cousin to treason. His explanation:
Asked about Sen. Miller's comment on Wednesday that the memo was "treason's first cousin" and that "heads should roll" over the episode, Sen. Hatch told radio host Sean Hannity, "I happen to love Zell Miller and I do agree with that because bad intelligence results in the deaths of Democrats and Republicans - in other words, our people."
But Hatch refuses to call for any sort of disciplinary action against Rockefeller--even though his actions could result in the deaths of American troops or civilians.
What planet is he on? What in Hatch's mind would constitute an offense worthy of discipline?
Committee chairman Sen. Pat Roberts, named in the memo as the Dems' useful rube of choice, did hint that should Rockefeller's fingerprints turn up on the memo, he could run into problems:
Asked what would happen if it turned out that Rockefeller was implicated in the memo scandal, Hatch replied: "Well, it's a serious issue. I mean, it would be, you know ... he would be seriously criticized if that were the case."
Oooooh...Rockefeller must be quaking in his boots. He may, underline may, have committed treason's "first cousin," and for it he may face "serious criticism." The West Virginia Senator must surely be losing sleep over that one.
The Republicans on that committee need to wake up: The Dems were preparing to commandeer it for purely political purposes. If any senator, on or off that committee, is found to have any responsibility for the production of that memo or for supplying the basic ideas, they should face censure at the very least. I think they should be expelled. Jail time wouldn't be too much to ask either. If a Republican had done this, they would already have been ejected from the Senate by now, probably by a unanimous vote.
This whole thing makes me very suspicious. The Republicans, normally referred to as the nation's daddy party because we're generally tougher on things like crime and war, are coddling and excusing some very bad behavior. They're acting more like the nanny party. With senators like these, we'll never get to the bottom of this scandal. And I suspect that, for some reason, that may be their intention.
UPDATE: Or the memo may have passed through GOP hands on its way to Sean Hannity. Anybody out there subscribe to Roll Call?
UPDATE: Well, maybe the Senate Republicans are taking this thing seriously after all. Majority Leader Bill Frist has disbanded the committee until the Dems fess up who wrote the memo. But it's too early to think they'll get to the bottom ot it--I'm sure they'll surrender in a week or so, once the Dems get their press allies on the offensive.