"So it's troubling that Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is fast gaining the reputation in Washington, D.C., as a reliable partisan apologist for the Bush administration on intelligence and security controversies.
We hope that's not true. But Roberts' credibility is on the line.
From Abu Ghraib abuses to secret CIA detainee prisons to the Valerie Plame affair, critics say, Roberts has become a dependable shill for the White House, ever ready to shield Bush policy from criticism and ever willing to compromise Congress' legitimate oversight role.
[snip]
What's bothering many, though, is that Roberts seems prepared to write the Bush team a series of blank checks to conduct the war on terror, even to the point of ignoring policy mistakes and possible violations of law.
That's not oversight -- it's looking the other way."
* glenn:
"Every day brings more conflicts, more disputes, more internecine fighting among Republicans. Indeed, Republicans are all fighting with each other on virtually every aspect of this (Snoopy) scandal - when have we ever seen that?
Just review media reports on this scandal over the last 24 hours alone. Does this sound like an Administration that welcomes this scandal as something that is politically beneficial? Does this sound like a scandal that is dying?"
* DemFromCT @ TNH:
"In fact, this whole right wing media notion that this is a 'winning issue' for the WH is just so much hot air. It's interesting that the myth of the WH being invincible on national security issues is beginning to get punctured. As a matter of course, it will depend on Republicans to do some of the damage, since they're the party in power and the President's own. But lame duck symptoms are creeping in everywhere, and will only accelerate the closer we get to 2006. That's what happens when you're stuck in miserable failure territory in the polls."
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