Posted on 11/07/2003 9:06:22 PM PST by PhiKapMom
Crossing a line
2003-11-07
Oklahoman Editorial
THERE'S AN old saying in Washington that partisan politics ends at the water's edge. Basically, it means issues of war and foreign policy shouldn't be fodder for political grandstanding.
Have Senate Democrats chucked the notion?
A memo written by Democratic staffers on the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, obtained by Fox News, suggests the minority party could get a lot of political mileage next year out of intelligence data leading to the war against Iraq.
Committee staffers write that efforts to expose the Bush administration's use of pre-war intelligence should be timed for maximum impact as the 2004 presidential campaign unfolds. The memo doesn't specifically say Democrats should time things to embarrass the president, but the hint is there.
It's wrong. Certainly committee Democrats and their staff are entitled to believe administration officials mishandled pre-war intelligence information. And they're entitled to work within the panel's rules to find where mistakes were made.
But it crosses a line to suggest that troubles with intelligence leading up to the war in Iraq can or should be exploited through the timing of an investigation.
"We can pull the trigger on an independent investigation at any time," the memo states. "But we can only do so once. The best time to do it will probably be next year ..." Staffers favor a call from Democratic senators for an independent probe, but not before a foundation is laid to maximize the minority's position to the public.
Somewhere in the political jockeying in Washington the fact the nation is at war against terror seems to have been lost. Further, some are confusing the purpose for reviewing pre-war intelligence. The goal is to fix what was broken, not to generate political talking points.
Miniseries pulled
2003-11-07
Oklahoman Editorial
BY MOST accounts, "The Reagans," a two-part made-for- television movie that would've aired Nov. 16 and 18 on CBS, pretty much is a hatchet job on the former president and first lady. President Reagan is portrayed as a quirky extremist, while Nancy Reagan is a controlling and protective shrew. With the former president in the latter stages of Alzheimer's disease and unable to defend himself, the movie is seen by many as the lowest of low blows.
Even so, the network probably would've run the show except for a groundswell of protest. CBS retreated this week, pulling the production and exiling it to the pay-cable network Showtime, which like CBS is owned by Viacom.
Censorship or a business decision? We think the latter.
Killing a show so close to its air date is unheard of in television. CBS heard from mainstream Americans and then some. To its credit, the network listened and did what any for-profit enterprise would do: cut its losses.
"If a network doesn't like your movie and doesn't want to air it, that's their choice," Judith Polone, president of movies and miniseries for Lions Gate Television, told the Los Angeles Times. "They're the ones who pay for it."
Conservatives were set on edge about the production as soon as they learned the lead role had been given to James Brolin, husband of singer and liberal political activist Barbra Streisand. "Everyone is a caricature, manufactured and inauthentic," Patti Davis, the former president's daughter, wrote in an Internet article. "My father is depicted as some demented evangelist, going on about Armageddon every chance he gets."
The filmmakers conceded some of the dialogue was fictionalized. "We are filmmakers and not documentary makers," executive producer Neil Meron said in an interview with Tribune Media.
Viewers who want to see Ronald Reagan lampooned can watch the movie on Showtime. There the audience will be measured in thousands, not millions -- which seems to be what "The Reagans" deserves.
Sums it up
But, that's the way the other side does things, in this post-Clinton world. After all, we saw what they did with a funeral for one of their own.
Me too!
Oh and for that IC the Dems are now complaining we need
If we can't trust the Select Intell Committee .. what makes them think we can trust an IC
I like the cartoon ! Yay for Kentucky and Mississippi !!Intel dem Memo
Just G-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r !
The Dirty 'RATS !________________________________________
Fire Democrats ~ Hire Republicans!
Lando
Alright ! Spread the word !! Dubya in 2004 !! ...
For Democrats on Senate Intel, another 911 is desirable--in their looking-glass world, terror attacks are a good.
Just as they desire economic catastrophe, not recovery.
The attempt by Clinton Barbara Streisand network to slander Ronald Reagan exposes the true function of "mainstream media":
To serve as the Demunist Ministry of Propaganda.
The election of Republican governors in Kentucky and Mississippi demonstrate the wider application of Zel Miller's dictum:
"Howard Dean knows as much about the South as a pig knows about Sunday."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
