Brilliant move by Harry Reid. News networks have to keep saying "whether or not the Bush administration knowingly lied us into war," Republicans are left whining about the "closed session", and the very fact that the Senate has retired for secret debate on national intelligence issues lends the issue instant credibility. After Rove tried to eject Libby from the front pages by nominating the most divisive nominee possible, Reid has refocused the media narrative on Iraq and the phantom WMD's. And yes, the debate over whether or not there should be an inquiry into why we launched a war to capture weapons that didn't exist is one I think the Democrats will be just fine on. Any Republicans want to take on the "con" argument?
There is, too, a symbolic statement here. Rove and the Republicans decided to deal with bad news the way they always do: change the subject, squeeze off all information that could sustain press coverage, and use their control of the agenda to manufacture enough headlines that last week's stories disappear down the memory hole. Today, Reid showed that the Democrats weren't going to stand for that any longer, and if Rove was going to keep distracting reporters, Democrats would pull the strings to bring them right back. I just saw Jon Kyl on television saying that what his constituents are worried about isn't Iraq, it's the deficit. Imagine how that plays on the tube. How dare Reid disrupt the budget reconciliation bill (zzz) to call a SECRET session to discuss WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION and INTELLIGENCE FAILURES. Which one sounds more pressing to you?
Over at Tapped, I have a post begging some reporter to ask Frist if Reid's move is more or less unprecedented than being the first majority leader to ever campaign against his counterpart in the opposition party. More to the point, seeing how Reid has gamed him, implanted steel into Democratic spines, and just proved his ability to use parliamentary tricks to recapture the agenda, I'd love to know if Frist regrets his decision. Something tells me he'd love to have Tom Daschle back right now.
