Reid would rather dance than fight...

Today, out of nowhere, came this ballsy play by the Senate Minority leader Harry Reid. He forced the Senate into a secret closed session to talk about whether or not the Bush Administration lied to Congress about the Iraq War. Politically bold, yet politically savvy: extra secrecy guarantees the press will fixate on what may have been discussed. Too many liberals have focused too much on the President's 16-word "yellowcake" reference in the 2003 State of the Union. Yeah, it could be he lied to the American people. Hello, politicians lie to the American people all the time. It might be rude, but it's par for the course. Lying to Congress on the eve of a war vote is another issue entirely. That's unethical, abusive, and possibly treasonous.

Up until last month I didn't think the administration had it in them to lie that baldly. I thought it was another instance of TigerHawk's razor: When a person's actions or statements force you to conclude that they are either nefarious or stupid, the most probable explanation is that they are stupid. Thus, I imagined Bush et al were as bewildered as anyone else when Saddam had no WMDs. on the other hand, Bush/Cheney/Rove/Libby have been lying, fairly convincingly, about this Plame issue since day one. After carrying that lie cleanly through a re-election campaign... yes, I think they had the motive and ability to lie to Congress. That doesn't mean they did, but I do hope Congress looks into it. All of Congress can be divided into three parts: those who advocated unilateral war because they just simply wanted war with Iraq, those who were misled into believing it was a just war by virtue of protecting the US, and those who opposed the war. I think the vast majority were in the second category (see again TigerHawk Razor), and those people should feel like fools that we didn't find WMDs. I would be ashamed, and frankly I'd want to know how it came to happen. The point being, yes, I believe there should be an investigation, and it should be by the Senate and not the Justice Dept. But I've digressed...

Today's hardball is surprising, but how it comes about is not. Here Reid describes the state of communications with the White House on filling the Supreme Court vacancy.

"I really am impressed with the consultation of this nomination. Let me tell you what it consisted of. I was at the Rosa Parks event last night, which was a solemn occasion and very nice. [White House Chief of Staff] Andy Card walked up to me and said I am going to call you at 6:30 in the morning. I said, "That is too bad," because I knew by then they had already picked someone.... He didn't call me at 6:30 [but at] about quarter to 7. The conversation lasted maybe 10 seconds. He said, "You have already heard?" I said, yup, and that was it. That is the consultation. With [Judge John] Roberts we had consultation, with [White House Counsel Harriet] Miers we had consultation, with Alito zero, nothing."

From Kevin Drum:

Frist is pissed. Really pissed. Reid did this without warning him. So is this something real, or is it a way to get Libby and Fitzgerald back on the front page? Or was it deliberately designed to make Frist lose it?

Fair enough, no consultation deserves no consultation.

The first passage comes from the Christian Science Monitor. It's a good piece if you have time to check it out. You might expect CSM to be skewed a little to the right, but Reid actually gets a somewhat positive profile. Evidently, the lore of Harry Reid includes this timely quote: "I would always rather dance than fight but I know how to fight."

More References: CNN story (check out the movie too). Note CNN gives time to Frist, but not Reid. Fox has a lot too.