Closed for Business

Yesterday Democratic Senator Harry Reid surprised the Hill by demanding that the Senate be closed for private sessions in order to pressure Republicans into properly considering the intelligence which prompted the United States invasion of Iraq.

Senate Republicans were shocked, shocked. Their dismay is understandable as the Senate hadn't been closed for private sessions since the Senate agreed in 1999 bipartisan fashion to close sessions in order to consider Bill Clinton's impeachment. This only happened six times during Clinton's impeachment trial, so it's easy to understand how the Republicans might forget.

In one of those political matter meets antimatter moments, Senator Bill Frist, currently under investigation for insider trading, declared,

They have no conviction. They have no principles. They have no ideas. This is a pure stunt.

Another bastion of decency, Senator Trent Lott also declared the Democrat's actions, "a stunt."

Possibly, Mr. Lott. Possibly, Mr Frist. And this may have been a stunt, too:



Harry Reid responded:

There's nothing more important to a Congress or a president than war. I think the American people are entitled to know how we got there. That's what this is all about.

Maybe, Mr. Reid, maybe. Or you may just be trying to distract us from the Bush administration's timely announcement of a billion dollar pandemic bird flu plan. Which rightly returned the nation's attention to an imminent crisis after last week's distractions involving Scooter, Karl and Dick. And the intelligence concerning weapons of mass destruction, which lead United States to invade Iraq.