Well, at least the cRATS, as a whole, have succeeded in embracing a common identity!
Posted on 09/08/2005 12:50:08 PM PDT by SolidSupplySide
WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Democratic leaders pushing for an independent commission to investigate the government's response to Hurricane Katrina spurned on Thursday a plan by majority Republicans for a joint congressional inquiry.
House of Representatives Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, called the House-Senate investigation announced by Republican leaders on Wednesday a "sham" and said it would not produce an objective assessment of what went wrong in the hours and days following the storm.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada also said he would not participate in the Republican-led inquiry.
The government's initial response to the catastrophic storm that left hundreds of thousands homeless and thousands feared dead along the U.S. Gulf Coast has come under intense bipartisan criticism.
While President George W. Bush declared Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama disaster areas days before Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 29 "to avert the threat of a catastrophe," residents of the region complained there was no federal help until days after the storm.
Pelosi said on CNN on Thursday that in meetings with Bush this week to discuss the response to Katrina the president asked her "'What didn't go right last week?'"
House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, both Republicans, announced what they said would be a bipartisan investigation at an event on Wednesday to which no Democrats were invited. With their plan, aides said Republicans would have the majority of members.
"The partisan proposal that Republican leaders outlined yesterday is completely unacceptable," Pelosi said. "House Democrats will not participate in a sham that is just the latest example of congressional Republicans being the foxes guarding the president's hen house."
Both Pelosi and Reid have called for an independent commission similar to the one that investigated intelligence failures before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Reid also declined to name Democrats to the panel saying its current structure would not yield the truth.
"The only way to ensure that all levels of our government are held accountable to the people is to take this process out of the hands of politicians with a vested interest in the outcome," he said.
Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean said Republicans would move ahead with the inquiry and hoped "that in the end the Democrats will come around and join us for the good of the country."
SENATE PANEL FORGING AHEAD
While the joint congressional inquiry appears to be getting off to a rocky start, a Senate panel began its investigation into the government response effort.
Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who heads the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said she is committed to pushing the inquiry forward on a bipartisan basis. She and Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the panel, spoke to reporters following a closed-door committee session with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard.
She said her committee will continue its investigation until the joint congressional panel gets running and takes over. She will lead the Senate side of the joint inquiry.
"We're still committed to a bipartisan inquiry," Collins said. "I think that's important for the credibility of the investigation and for it to have the confidence of the American people." (additional reporting by Vicki Allen)
Translation: "Wait, there is an honest investigation, we won't be able manipulate the process to generate an outcome that is favorable to us and that hurts President Bush."
The Dems will resurrect the "DowningStreetMemo" commission..
Democrats. The party of no.
Puce Pelosi trying to get some media coverage with name-calling and trying to shift the blame from LA governor Blanco and NO mayor Nagin--both demoncRATS.
If it's a congressional investigation, that means they can't put Blanco on it. So, naturally, that's a problem.
Has she blinked yet?
Do you think Pelosi will be one of those who decides who these "independent" people will be?
Blanco will be the new Jamie Gorelick...
I'm not sure I trust Susan Collins to lead this with any fairness or with any skill to overcome the Dems spin.
"Independent" Panel = Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, The Dixie Chix, Mary Landrieu, and Cindy Sheehan.
They wanted a hand-picked commission like the 9/11 Committee. Rinos, who were probably under threat of blackmail, and extreme liberals to obfuscate the truth.
They know what the result will be and they want to be able to call it a bias report. It's come out now that the state refused to let the Red Cross deliver the food and water to the evacuees in the dome. They don't want their mugs on TV when it comes time for the Red Cross to giver their testimony.
I hear Jamie Gorelick and Richard Ben Veniste are available.
LOL. These clown are so transparent. Obviously a real investigation which of course would include some serious questions concerning the LA Gov. and the Mayor of NO is something they want no part of.
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