Today is a sad day for the U.S. Congress and a sad day in American history.
Vermont’s senior sap in the U.S. Senate, Patrick Leahy, is set to unleash a vicious partisan attack on U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft today at hearings called to exact revenge and attempt to inflict damage as retribution following the Democrat’s unsuccessful effort to defeat his nomination last spring.
With his attack-dog Sen. Chuck "Chuckie the Cheese” Schumer, D-N.Y., foaming at the mouth and Sen. Ted "The Swimmer” Kennedy, D-MA., chomping at the bit, Leahy will try to portray the Attorney General and, by implication, the President as embarking on a dangerous, slippery slope of ‘extra-constitutional’ efforts to combat terrorism.
Why in the world is Leahy going to grill Ashcroft on this issue?
After all, it is the Department of Defense, under Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is charged with establishing the parameters and rules for such proceedings, should the President ever invoke them.
But he possesses neither the guts nor the statesmanship to do that.
Besides, this entire issue is a fraud in the first instance, given that the military tribunals have absolutely nothing to do with U.S. citizens! The President clearly outlined that only those foreigners who assisted or abetted in attacks on the U.S. could be brought to justice in this manner.
The reason for tagging Ashcroft on this one is that he is perceived to be more vulnerable to such partisan attacks since the Democrats ‘set the stage’ with their despicable, false charges leveled against him during his confirmation hearings.
So, the cowardly Leahy will once again ignore the facts and trample the truth for what can only be partisan political purposes.
All of this during a time of war, with U.S. troops in harm’s way engaging the enemy in battle. We got these kangaroo proceedings.
But propriety and decency are not character traits evidenced by Leahy and his Democrat comrades on the Senate Judiciary Committee. |
