Senate Democrats Show Some Spine

The Nation: Closed Session Was A Promising Move

(The Nation) 
Predictably, Mississippi Senator Trent Lott, the former majority leader who is always looking for a camera shot, rushed out to accuse Reid of making "some sort of stink about Scooter Libby and the CIA leak" and derided the Democratic leader for seeking a closed-door session to discuss a matter as inconsequential – in Lott’s view – as whether the American people and the Congress were lied to prior to the launch of a war that has left more than 2,000 US troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis dead.

But Reid’s mission was far more specific than to raise "some sort of stink about Scooter Libby."

The Senate minority leader and his chief aide, Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin, were taking up what has been a long struggle, conducted mostly by antiwar groups such as Progressive Democrats of America: to force Senate Intelligence Committee chair Pat Roberts, of Kansas, to keep his promise to conduct a thorough investigation of whether the Administration distorted intelligence in order to "sell" the war in Iraq.

Frist, Roberts and others huddled Tuesday to figure out a strategy to thwart the demand for the promised inquiry. But Reid’s actions have finally focused attention on Roberts’s past pledges. And there was serious speculation that the Democrat might force the Intelligence Committee chair to stop stonewalling.

Reid – like his predecessor, Tom Daschle – has rarely been as bold as the times have demanded. And the nation has suffered as a result. But Tuesday he had mounted a challenge that is appropriate and necessary. As such, he merits the high praise of being referred to not as a Democrat or a Republican but as the leader of the opposition that this country has so sorely needed.

We can only hope that Reid will, by his actions in coming days, seek to retain the title.