democrats saw the same intelligence

i missed an episode of lehrer during the week (tue) cos they had some scheduling issues - but i just caught it online...

* durbin actually said that chalabi is a convicted embezzler. i thought it was verboten to even mention it. or something. gwen ifill nearly choked (me too):

"SEN. RICHARD DURBIN: Well, I'm totally baffled by Mr. Chalabi's presence in Washington, D.C. The victory tour that he's been on over the past week -- I mean, consider the facts: This man is a convicted bank embezzler, convicted of embezzling over $230 million in Jordan. He ran and fled to London so that they wouldn't punish him."

indeedy

there was also this amazing statement that ought to have been blared, repeatedly, across the blogosphere, and the dems should repeat it. repeatedly. its not surprising, but it sure debunks a lot of the nonsense.

"GWEN IFILL: The president, Sen. Durbin, if I stay with you for a moment, has been saying that Democrats in particular have been rewriting history and retelling the story to suit their own cold feet, as it were right now. What's your response to that?

SEN. RICHARD DURBIN: I think the president's statements are wrong and inaccurate. The fact of the matter is I was on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Statements being made by members of the administration about things like aluminum tubes and nuclear weapons went far beyond what we were hearing behind closed doors in that Senate Intelligence Committee room. And I couldn't say anything publicly."