From Jen Rubin at Commentary: [1]
Jake Tapper [2]appears to be one of the few (only?) mainstream reporters keeping current on the Chas Freeman story. You would think it would be hard to ignore the growing tidal wave of protest and controversy. The latest is a letter [3] signed by the Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee taking issue with the appointment. And one wonders how the civil libertarians on the left who are apologizing for Freeman and smearing his critics will respond to this from Huffington Post [4]:
One new development, revealed here for the first time, which is likely to further damage Freeman’s already battered standing is that the former ambassador advocated creating a national identity system in the US as a part of the war on terror. During a 9/11 Commission interview, Freeman remarked that of three major changes the US government should make to effectively combat terror, one was that “the United States should implement a national identity system, so we better know who is who.”
This all raises several questions. First, how long can the rest of the mainstream media hold out without reporting on an embarrassing debacle for the Obama administration?
It’s a good rhetorical question. However, I should think that our experience with Bill Clinton and the supposedly mainstream media, through the 90’s should be taken as an answer… So long as the man holds office, they’ll keep lying for him. The bottom line is, any crowd as far in the tank as the Dinosaurs have proven to be, are going to be true believers until there’s no more breath in the man’s body.
Meantime, take heart; It seems to me that this story is one example of why, for example, the New York Times is in the process of heading down the Chapter Eleven freeway. On the express lane, yet.
Second, where are the Democrats on the Intelligence Committee. Does Diane Feinstein think Freeman is an acceptable pick? It is interesting to note how lacking in — what’s the word? ah yes — “oversight” the government is now that Congress and the White House are controlled by the same party
Well, yes, there is that, and it seems to me that we made mention of that during the most recent election. For all of the problems that John McCain brought to the table, most of which we chronicled here, that was one of the major selling points that John McCain had for his candidacy.
At the bottom line of all of this is the idea that the American voter bought this load of poop at the beginning of November. I think it’s safe to say the bill is now coming due. I think it also safe to say that the midterms, assuming that the voters are actually kept up to speed on this stuff, is going to be a very interesting time indeed.
Meanwhile, I notice that Eli Lake [5]over the Washington Times as saying that the GOP Senators… what there remains of them… are now following that they’re going to be looking over this business with Freeman very closely. This newfound attention to detail is certainly refreshing . Frankly, however, I think we could have used it a couple of years ago. Look; had the Republicans been quite as diligent in their work then as now, we might still have a Republican dominated Congress.
Lesson learned, yet, people?
Somehow, I doubt it.