Some interesting fruit from Kos diaries this morning on the documentation of lies from Republican leadership, both good and bad--and by that I mean lies that were generally well hidden and essentially uncheckable, as well as those that are mystifyingly simple to rebut with the facts.
The clever lie is of course the whole slate of them told by the President, Vice-President, Secretary of Defense, National Security Advisor, et al regarding the run-up to the Iraqi war. Since being exposed in the British press shortly before British elections, the story on the leaked memo that indicated Bush's clear intent to seek war on Saddam has failed to unseat Tony Blair, and has been almost utterly ignored in the larger US media.
That might be changing. Knight-Ridder continued their status as the main war journalism clarion with a piece on the memo yesterday. We'll see where it goes from there, but Congressman Conyers is pimping it this morning at Kos, hoping to bolster the publicity around his letter to the President on the subject, now signed by 88 Democratic Representatives. Conyers has been an exemplary Member of Conscience in the 109th; he also led constructive public meetings on the Ohio elections and took the lead in compiling irregularities from that state.
His appearance at Kos as a member is part of a trend of sitting national politicians (and failed aspirations like Jeff Sessions and Richard Morrison) signing up and using direct appeals for action to US progressives. Conyers credits Kossacks for building signature support for his letter; that kind of immediate connection between politician and constituents is a new feature of Congressional communications. I'm not yet aware of Congresspeople from the Republican party appearing at/taking membership with blogs from the right; if you know of one please comment below. Otherwise the Dems are ahead on this, and so far I haven't seen any media coverage of this development.
The other lie comes from Orrin Hatch, the Judiciary Chair, who has claimed multiple times that there was no fillibuster against Abe Fortas in 1968. He does it by citing former Senator Robert Griffin, who was active during that period, according to former Nixon counsel John Dean (and subsequently cited by the diarist on this one, Unbossed:)
Hatch says his source for this information was former Michigan Senator Robert Griffin, who led the Republican attack against Fortas. Hatch said that Griffin "personally told me that there never was an intention to use the filibuster to defeat the Fortas nomination." (Emphasis added.)
That statement is absurd. Either Senator Hatch did not hear Senator Griffin correctly, or Senator Griffin has forgotten the events of 1968. A filibuster actually did defeat the Fortas nomination; no one can deny that. Was it all a colossal misunderstanding? Of course not.
On April 27, speaking on the Senate floor, Senator Hatch repeated his error. He said, "Some have said that the Abe Fortas nomination for Chief Justice was filibustered. Hardly. I thought it was, too, until I was corrected by the man who led the fight against Abe Fortas, Senator Robert Griffin of Michigan."
Hatch then asserted that the former Senator told him, and the Senate Republican caucus, "that there never was a real filibuster because a majority would have beaten Justice Fortas outright."
Dean goes on to substantiate the claim with NYT articles of the day, the Senate history itself, and his personal experience as an involved participant. It really has gotten so bad that people can just blatantly lie on the facts on the Senate floor, and no one blinks an eye.
In the comments is a helpful link to the always-useful Decembrist, who goes in depth on Fortas and the fillibuster in general. Schmitt is a great resource for this topic, should you need factual backing for your rhetoric. It appears Frist will be coming with the nuke option as early as Tuesday; Unbossed also has a top-notch diary rundown on which GOP Senators are in, which are wavering, which are leaning against, and which won't tell.
Interesting developments, all.
--TJ
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