The Great Hospital Room Visit: SHOCK & HORROR

[Me.]

So, they're all shocked, the senators, the NYT, WSJ, WaPo, that the thugs of the hour should behave like this. I heard about this two years ago, here, on this forum. I knew, they didn't? Come now. No excuse, they're either liars or asleep at the wheel. Neither is an endorsement.

[dogday]

1. It's like everyone is years behind us on the news

and it is frustrating as can be...

[MindPilot]

2. They all thought Hussein had WMDs too.

And seem quite surprised that he didn't. I'm sure they will also be shocked, I tell you, shocked when they find out the thugs were complicit regarding 9/11.

Randi is saying we should all email the members of the House Judiciary Committee. She still labors under the illusion that they represent us and give a shit what we think.

[librechik]

3. zzzzzzzzzzz

this is old news to them. I bet they're surprised that this one took off like a rabbit in a brushfire!

[Me.]

5. And Therein Is The Catch, For All Of Them

They can never know which indiscretion, malfeasance, outright criminality will catch them by the tail. Illegal wiretaps didn't catch on, torture, loss of habeas corpus, but a Soprano style visit to a hospital room and the world is on fire. I guess it's true what they say about a pebble as opposed to a stone.

[pnwmom]

4. There's a huge difference between hearing the unconfirmed outlines

of a story from ANONYMOUS sources, and hearing all the gory details from Comey himself.

Tony Snow's line is that this is "old conversations." Do you think Dems are helped by pushing Snow's "this is old" meme, there's nothing here to see, let's just move on?

I think that Comey's live testimony WAS shocking, and it added a great many details that hadn't been in the NYTimes anonymous report. For example, we now know that the Bush administration went ahead and reauthorized the wiretapping program WITHOUT the approval of the Justice Department. And, a few weeks later, the only reason Bush decided to make the required changes for Justice Department approval was because of the threat of mass resignations -- as in the Saturday Night Massacre (as Arlen Specter alluded to.)

But for several weeks, Bush was running the program in blatant violation of the law.

I blame the media for not following up on the NYTimes story, not the Dems. Until a few months ago, when we attained the majority in Congress, we couldn't subpoena Comey. The previous Republican committee heads accepted the Bush administration's decision not to allow Comey to testify, and there was nothing the Democrats could do.

[Me.]

6. Good Point

especially about the mass resignations which was the one detail new to me. Kudos to the men who stood up. Oh, there was one other. Comey wanting a witness with him when he went to see Card. Smart guy, but then he's the one who chose Fitzgerald, so I always thought that.