The media is already covering Bush's ass....

[KissMyAsscroft]

They are not mentioning that McCain has already said he doesnt think Bush manipulated prewar intelligence.

I have yet to see any reporter question whether or not a president can really appoint a truly independant panel.

Total whores. Not that I expected anything less of course.

[La_Serpiente]

1. It is interesting he chose McCain

He was one of the first prominent Republicans to call for the special investigation. On top of that, he has also been one of the most critical Republicans of the Bush administration (i.e. the budget, medicare, prescription drugs, energy bill, etc.).

Now that he is on the investigation team, he will have to shut up about the WMD's.

[KeepItReal]

2. Manipulation of intel is off the table for the commission

"The commission doesn't appear to have any subpoena power, only the right to "full and complete access to information relevant to its mission as described in section 2 of this order
...
Anything the White House did with those CIA analyses, any fisticuffs between the Veep's office and the CIA, anything stovepiped through Doug Feith's operation at the Pentagon, anything that made its way from Chalabi's mumbo-jumbocrats to the the president's speechwriters -- that's all beyond their brief."

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

Don't get it twisted...this commission is a distraction and delaying tactic only. Sorta like the 9/11 commission.

[krkaufman]

3. McCain quote from PBS' News Hour on Friday

Yep; even on PBS' News Hour on Friday, they included the following McCain quote while discussing the creation of the panel...

Lehrer: "In Germany, McCain said the panel would examine how the intelligence was used but dismissed talk that the public was deliberately misled."

McCain, in video clip: "The President of the United States, I believe, would not manipulate...uhhhhh... any kind of information for political gain or otherwise. And in order for that to be pr//... it would have to be proven to me. Now, perhaps mistakes were made, and those are what we have to look at in a broad variety of areas; but there is no massive conspiracy that I've seen ... and I believe that's why were gonna look at all the facts."

[Old and In the Way]

4. Two Words: Republican Whitewash

Democrats should simply say that only a completely Independent Prosecuter with complete access to all aspects of intel can determine if there was a criminal misrepresentation of facts to Congress.

Nothing else matters.

[rhino91063]

5. Independent panel my *ss

The White Wash commission is NOTHING but a cover for bush's crimes.

[Q]

6. Crooked Republicans learned long ago...

...that all they had to do was CALL FOR an investigation and then simply put themselves in a position to define the parameters and limit the power of the investigators and in the end pronounce themselves innocent.

[KharmaTrain]

7. This Is A Game For Repugnicans Only

If there's one thing virtually everyone on DU and Democrats agree is that bunnypants wanted this war and was hell-bent on invading Iraq. We weren't asleep during the run-up...the U.N. debates, the Blix reports and other sources that indicted Hussein was no threat to this country and that the inspections had all but destroyed his nuclear and chemical programs...that's what WMDs are...not rape rooms or any other distraction.

Deny as they might, this invasion was sold to this country as not only needed, but needed immediately, to eliminate this threat and that we were sure to find massive stockpiles of chemical weapons once inside the country. While I was convinced Hussein was no threat to this country that our containment hadn't succeded in neutralizing, I also was expecting some type of cache of serin or other toxins to show up...some old hidden supply...but now we know not even that existed.

America is waking up to the bad side of their fears of this quagmire. First, it is a quagmire (remember how we were shot down in predicting that would occur)...instead should be call it a "slog"??? Second, the war didn't make this country safer as the terror alerts continue to yo-yo and the next Al Queda attack seems too close for comfort...we've even "Got Him"...yet the threats remain as strong as ever and now our sons and daughters are sitting ducks in a political war with no end game in sight. Third, the price of oil is going up...WTF...weren't we supposed to be getting all this cheap oil as our spoils? Wasn't this oil supposed to pay or bringing "democracy" to people who didn't ask or it and now they're hearing there are those who are profiting from the mess we're in. It's not an easy landscape on the other side of the fence right now.

This "investigation" is to ice both the WMD/Iraq Invasion noise and keep McCain out of trouble for as long as possible. Any question will surely be answered (as I'll bet bunnypants will do today/tomorrow on MTP) saying "it's under investigation" to any question in that area. For months this regime has spun the cause of the invasion purely on removing Saddam and the threat to his people rather than to ours...the debate doing on in GOOPieland is not about the invasion rather justifying it...they can't...so this game will go on. Hopefully fewer and fewer are playing.

Unfortunately, without the control of the House and Senate, Democrats have no real investigative power...something that isn't missed a bit by this regime that has operated as though they had a 49 state mandate. They know there's not enough votes for any Democratic motion, yet alone setting up any true investigation with teeth. Now that we're pulling together at the top of the ticket, it's time for Democrats to shore up the rest...we need to capture on of these houses this fall to really ensure victory.