Anyone really surprised by this?
It was a solemn pledge, repeated by Democratic leaders and candidates over and over: If elected to the majority in Congress, Democrats would implement all of the recommendations of the bipartisan commission that examined the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
But with control of Congress now secured, Democratic leaders have decided for now against implementing the one measure that would affect them most directly: a wholesale reorganization of Congress to improve oversight and funding of the nation’s intelligence agencies. Instead, Democratic leaders may create a panel to look at the issue and produce recommendations, according to congressional aides and lawmakers.
Ok, so let me get this straight. They are going to create a panel that will review the recommendations of a commission that investigated our nations Intelligence programs in regards to 9/11. Did anyone hear from the Democrats during this election cycle that they were going to create panels or did we all hear them say:
Our agenda includes:
Making our nation safer; and we will begin by implementing the recommendations of the independent, bipartisan 9/11 commission.
and:
Tuesday, Americans have a choice between staying the course and a new direction for our country. After six years of Republican leadership, some Americans may be considering doing something they haven’t done in a long time. Vote for a Democrat.
[…]We will enact the bipartisan 9/11 Commission recommendations because it’s time to inspect all cargo and lock down loose nuclear material and ensure our nation is prepared for disasters such as Hurricane Katrina – and the aftermath. We will ensure we properly equip our National Guard and first responders.
A few of the 9/11 victims families are a bit surprised and miffed:
The decision will almost certainly anger commission members, as well as families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, many of whom have pressed hard for implementation of the recommendations.
“The Democrats pledged to implement all the remaining 9/11 reforms, not some of them,” said former representative Timothy J. Roemer (D-Ind.), who served on the commission.
Carie Lemack, whose mother was in one of the jets that hit the World Trade Center, echoed that sentiment: “It wasn’t a Chinese takeout menu, the 41 recommendations. You have to do all of them.”
But I’m not surprised one iota. Now that they are the majority they will begin to give excuses for not doing what they promised to their followers.
Meanwhile Howie Dean is telling the public that the Democrats need to produce results instead of rhetoric:
Democrats face a challenge defending their gains in the 2006 midterm elections because “now it’s what we do and not what we say,” national chairman Howard Dean told party leaders Saturday.
It appears they are getting off to a great start huh?
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“Democratic leaders have decided for now against implementing the one measure that would affect them most directly: a wholesale reorganization of Congress to improve oversight and funding of the nation’s intelligence agencies.”
…..
Did you notice that their sudden zeal for “reformism” does NOT include themselves? There are also some Republicans who fall into this category unfortunately. They have no intention of making themselves accountable for anything. For the next two years they will avoid or obstruct ANY and ALL reform in Congress. They’ve been complaining bitterly that they have had no oversight but nothing could be further from the truth. They refuse to accept that with that oversight comes both responsibility and accountability to the people who put them in that role. They have become far too fond of being able to blame their ineptitude on President Bush, because they refuse to be held to account for ANYTHING! And so “oversight” has become a potent political weapon to make the other guy look bad. Tom Vilsack became the first Dem to openly declare that he is running for ’08 and his “first campaign speech”? Surprise!!! He’s running against President Bush! How many years after Bush is out of office can they expect to be able to use that one?
Sigh.
Carol
New color scheme for the holidays?
We’re back to the bad old days when Congress run by Democrats passed laws for the rest of which to which they exempted themselves.
Oh, and it will be interesting to see the conflicts between the Iraq Study Group and the 9/11 Commission. Especially since Lee Hamilton was the Vice Chair on both.
I agree with your Sigh Carol….sign of the times I suppose.
Mike – Nope, you may have noticed the site loads fast now also. I changed over to Movable Type from WordPress. My web guru designed the site. Now the site wont go down like last week with the whole “jamil hussein” story plus better performance. Hope you like.
Curt: Definite improvement in how the site loads. Thanks. It was frustrating waiting for the page. I post periodically at the Wide Awakes using WordPress and the site seems to load ok, but the editor is a total nightmare. I hope M.T. works better for you.
I am so used to the editor on WordPress, but now have to get used to this new one which is a bear. But the fact that I can withstand a deluge of traffic more then makes up for the headache.
Blog Week in Review, December 2, 2006: Information War
This weeks panelists, PJM’s Richard Fernandez and Glenn Reynolds, discuss one Jamil Hussein–an alleged Iraq Police Officer who was an Associated Press source regarding reportage which saw six Sunnis burned alive–and dissect the work done by bloggers …