GOP leaders hurting the nation's security

[ashling]

Clements: GOP leaders hurting the nation's security

By Cynthia Hall Clements
Cox News Service
Monday, December 06, 2004



LUFKIN, Texas — The contentious squabbling over the intelligence reform bill in Congress confirms yet again that some Republicans still do not get it. It may come as a rude awakening to these ultraconservative, and perhaps just a tad bit self-absorbed legislators when they realize that the horror of 9/11 was not all about them.
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GOP Reps. Duncan Hunter of California and James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin are unequivocally shouting the pop cultural mantra to all Americans—"it's not you; it's me"—to justify their reticence and obstinacy in delaying intelligence reform. The safety of our entire country in the future rests on the actions of two men today. They are holding this bill hostage to their every whim and desire.

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These Republicans are asking us to disregard the findings of the 9/11 Commission, the bipartisan appeals by the chairman and vice-chairman of the commission for passage of the bill, the heartfelt pleas of the families of the victims of 9/11 and the nation's homeland security. Set those trivial matters aside, they flippantly tell us.

Instead, we are supposed to believe that the triumvirate of Hunter, Sensenbrenner, and let us not forget the equally culpable House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, who has refused to allow a vote on the floor, know best, better than the 9/11 Commission. After all, they have altruistic motives — safeguarding U.S. troops in the field, and cracking down on illegal immigration — for blocking intelligence reform.

Somehow, I am just not buying it. You should not either.

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Now that the election is over, some Republicans want the rights and privileges of power without the often times onerous responsibilities of governing

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Cynthia Hall Clements is a columnist for The Lufkin Daily News. Her e-mail address is [e-mail]. To read more of her columns, go to the Opinion page at www.LufkinDailyNews.com.