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Jens 'n' Frens
Idle thoughts of a relatively libertarian Republican in Cambridge, MA, and whomever he invites. Mostly political.
"A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures."
-- Daniel Webster
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Sunday, November 09, 2003 :::
Former Senator Bob Kerrey (D-NE) on that leaked memo:The production of a memo by an employee of a Democratic member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is an example of the destructive side of partisan politics. That it probably emerged as a consequence of an increasingly partisan environment in Washington and may have been provoked by equally destructive Republican acts is neither a comfort nor a defensible rationalization.
In those instances where intelligence failures become important public issues, the danger arises that partisan politics will become destructive of the committee's purpose. Whenever they caucus with their parties, the chairman and vice-chairman are under pressure to use the failure for political gain rather than simply trying to make certain the failure doesn't happen again.
I know these pressures well. In 1995 as vice-chairman of the Senate's committee, I worked with the then-chairman, Sen. Arlen Spector, to move away from a system in which the committee staff was divided between Republican and Democratic members, as it is on all other Senate committees. We argued that the staff should be professional and work for the entire committee without regard to party affiliation.
::: posted by Steven at 2:23 AM
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