The
tiny fraction of memos that have been released reveal a cynical,
no-holds-barred manipulation of the process by leftist groups...
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Democrat
Memogate: The Beginning of Political Scandal
As
political scandals go, the case of the U.S. Senate Democrat memos
is difficult to assess thoroughly, for the moment. The evidence
is currently under lock and key by the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms.
That evidence consists of some three to four thousand memos from
or to Democrat members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, believed
to detail collusion between Democrats and leftist groups to block
confirmation of many of President Bushs judicial nominees.
The
tiny fraction of memos that have been released reveal a cynical,
no-holds-barred manipulation of the process by leftist groups, which
have amassed gigantic war chests for their efforts. The most egregious
memo exposed thus far, written by a staffer to Senator Ted Kennedy,
bluntly discusses an effort to affect the outcome of a then-pending
case by delaying confirmation of an appeals court judge. The memo
specifically recognizes the impropriety of delay for that purpose.
Another memo attacks Miguel Estrada, who subsequently withdrew his
nomination. His offenses: his career has left no paper trail to
be picked apart; hes Latino, and was thought being groomed
for the Supreme Court.
Unless
or until the other memos, or the computer on which they repose,
are put in the hands of competent, objective investigators, we cannot
begin to comprehend the full extent of ethics violations or worse.
Unless or until the other memos, or the computer on which they repose,
are put in the hands of competent, objective investigators, we cannot
be confident that they will not be destroyed or disappear. The stakes
are that high.
For
a political scandal to reach the tipping point, it requires sustained
and/or massive media attention, resulting in significant public
outrage. With the notable exceptions of Fox News, a Wall
Street Journal editorial writer, an overburdened Washington
Times reporter and columnist/commentator Robert Novak, almost
all media attention thus far has focused on how the memos were obtained
and some leaked.
When
that first group of memos was made public, Democrats Ted Kennedy
and Dick Durbin immediately went into full attack mode, successfully
changing the subject from the content of the memos to how they were
obtained. Great tactic; aggressively and loudly executed; amply
supported by the Democrats amen corner, including the editorial
pages of The New York Times and Washington Post. Self-righteous
hyperbole gushed, as is typical of a Kennedy/Durbin exercise. The
perfidies of Hitler and Stalin were invoked; comparisons to Watergate
were made; "criminal" acts were alleged.
Against
that onslaught, the Senates Republican leadership, most notably
Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and Majority Leader Bill
Frist, crumpled like the cheap suits neither wears. Hatch, who Robert
Novak has bluntly referred to as Kennedys "patsy"
over this, pronounced himself "mortified" and authorized
the Sergeant-at-Arms' investigation. Frist "accepted"
the resignation of Manuel Miranda, an aide who has acknowledged
reading the memos but steadfastly denies wrongdoing. Judgment on
that can be made only after details of who did what, when, how and
why are fully understood.
Whatever
the Republican conversations behind closed doors, the content of
the memos, both that which is known and that which is rumored, remains
an elephant in the elephant house. Everyone knows its there.
Those who cant see it smell it. But no one is willing to speak
of it, except Manny Miranda.
While
being kicked out the door, Miranda filed a complaint with the Senate
Ethics Committee, charging that the heretofore unseen memos indicate
evidence of "public corruption
.This includes evidence
of the direct influencing of the Senates advice and consent
role by the promise of campaign funding and election support in
the last mid-term election."
On
February 12, Fox News reported it "has learned that
one memo recounts how Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, now
a presidential candidate, allegedly urged Leahy to delay a vote
on one Bush nominee, supposedly because trial lawyers groups
and the NAACP would, if the vote occurred, curtail campaign spending
for Democratic candidates in North Carolina." (Senator Patrick
Leahy was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee when Democrats controlled
the Senate.)
There
are currently far more questions than answers about all elements
of the issue, too few people asking them, and not the right people
at that. The Senate Ethics Committee, undoubtedly one of the slowest
and weakest investigating and enforcement bodies in all of government,
and the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms just do not rise to the level required.
The
Center for Individual Freedom has joined with others to ask the
Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department to step in. The
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has called for a special prosecutor.
Were not holding our breath, but it is essential that the
memos at least be protected. The obfuscation of Senate Democrats
coupled with the puzzling and disheartening acquiescence of Senate
Republicans may hold for a time, but if the evidence is preserved,
we may eventually learn some part of the truth now so desperately
hidden.
Even
though, in the past year, the American people have been rocked by
a number of activist judicial decisions that strike against both
constitutional principle and core moral values, they have still
not fully made the connection between the impact of those decisions
and the ideological obstruction of judicial confirmations. Still,
in a national poll released this week, Zogby International found
that 53 percent of likely voters in the "blue states"
(those carried by Al Gore in 2000) and 59 percent of those in "red
states" (those carried by President Bush in 2000) believe the
Democrat filibuster of judicial nominees is wrong.
Political
corruption is far easier to understand than complex partisan maneuvering,
and if the Democrat memos revealed thus far are only the tip of
the iceberg, then the U.S. Senate could well start to resemble the
Titanic.
Senator
Kennedy, who has referred to President Bushs judicial nominees
as "Neanderthals," last week compared the exposure of
the Democrat memos to Watergate. Thats cute, and the Senator
obviously wants people to focus only on the Watergate break-in.
But that was just the beginning. We recall hearings, televised daily,
questions asked under oath of the high and mighty. We recall reporters
worthy of the name chasing stories into the night.
This
time there are documents three to four thousand of them
to provide the roadmap for investigation. The next question is who
has the guts to initiate that investigation.
- To download
the Democrat memos, click here
(pdf).
- To read the
letter filed with the U.S. Department of Justices Public
Integrity Section asking for an investigation, click
here.
- To read the
Centers complaint filed with the Virginia State Bar again
Elaine Jones of the NAACP, click
here.
[Posted
February 19, 2004]
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