7/09/2009

Easy Predictions: No One Will Apologize to Nancy Pelosi:
Some things are just cut and dried, no matter how much others try to complicate, obfuscate, or bloviate. So, just to get this right:

On May 14, 2009, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi accused the CIA of lying about who was told what when at which briefing on waterboarding. She added, "They mislead us all the time." "They" is the CIA; "us" is the Congress.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who, it needs to always be mentioned, scampered away from Congress in disgrace, said back in May, "To have the person third in line to be president say that the CIA misleads us all the time is so utterly irresponsible and such an attack on the men and women who are risking their lives...that she disqualifies herself for being speaker of the House."

Fox "news" host Bill O'Reilly barely said (in an "interview" with Gingrich), "The unintended consequences of the Speaker of the House basically saying to the world, hey, the U.S. government is corrupt. You know, the CIA is a bunch of liars. And they misled the Congress and all of these terrible things, that's got to play out in a much bigger - you know, much more important role than just Pelosi versus the CIA."

Also on Fox "news," Sean Hannity said that Pelosi is "undermining our national security. She's emboldening our enemies, and it is reckless and irresponsible for somebody in that position."

There's endlessly similar blustering in print, on the radio, and on TV.

Here's a letter from yesterday, June 26, 2009, to CIA Chief Leon Panetta from seven Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee: "Recently you have testified that top CIA officials have concealed significant actions from all Members of Congress, and misled Members for a number of years from 2001 to this week. This is similar to other deceptions of which we are aware from other recent periods." This is vague because the House members are dealing with classified material.

Or, in other words, "They mislead us all the time." Oh, by the way, the "us" there could also be the American people.