February 07, 2007
Hotline After Dark -- Space, The Final Scandal Frontier
TV last night was mostly about the astronaut charged with attempted murder. But there was a lot of talk about the action (or non-action) in Congress regarding the nonbinding resolutions on Iraq:
FNC's Garrett: "Dismayed at the Senate stalemate over Iraq, House Democrats reversed course today and said they would no longer wait to debate a resolution opposing the president's new Iraq strategy" ("Special Report," 2/5).
CNN's Bash: "The Senate now appears unlikely to vote any time soon on the president's plan to send more troops to Iraq" ("Lou Dobbs Tonight," 2/6).
Senate Min. Leader Mitch McConnell: "This is a debate we would like to have. ... In the Senate, it's customary for the minority to be treated respectfully and to have at least several different proposals considered. Senator Reid and I have been in negotiation over the last few days trying to narrow down the various proposals that would be considered. As we speak tonight, we've come down to one proposal, the proposal offered by Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, that would put the Senate on record as favoring funding support for the troops in Iraq. Unfortunately, the majority leader is objecting, so it appears as if we're going forward here, if we go forward, without the minority having any amendments at all" ("NewsHour," PBS, 2/6).
Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO): "The fact of the matter is that we should have a vote on whether or not there is a support for the president's plan to escalate the war by sending in 21,500 additional troops. Senator Reid has been imminently fair with the Republican Party by allowing two Republican resolutions to go forward, the McCain resolution as well as the Warner resolution. And so at the end of the day, this is simply whether or not the Republican majority wants to block a vote on the most basic question facing America, and that is whether or not we should escalate the military effort in Iraq by 21,500 troops, in reality almost 48,000 troops, over the next year as the president is doing right now" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 2/6).
WashingtonPost.com's Cillizza: "It's really a parliamentary game at this point, and frankly, I think the American people are looking to the Senate to do something. It's funny to say that passing a nonbinding resolution would mean doing
something. But in the situation we're in, it would" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 2/6).
SHUSTER EXPLAINS IT ALL
MSNBC's Shuster, on the testimony at the Scooter Libby trial: "If you think that is confusing ... you can only imagine what the jury may be thinking about Scooter Libby's logic. And that's why the defense has some awfully tough decisions they've got to make now in the days ahead when the defense phase of this case takes over. And Scooter Libby has to decide whether he wants to try to explain all of this from the witness stand and also enlist the help of Vice President Cheney" ("Hardball," 2/6). [EMILY GOODIN]
Posted at 07:19 AM
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