Repugs get 9/11 commission briefing before Democrats!

[gauguin57]

http://cnn.allpolitics.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=CNN.com+-+GOP+lawmaker%3A+9%2F11+reforms+may%A0be+delayed+-+Jul+21%2C+2004&expire=-1&urlID=11075572&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2004%2FALLPOLITICS%2F07%2F21%2F911.report%2Findex.html&partnerID=2001

Pardon my ignorance, but why do congressional REPUBLICANS get briefed on the 9/11 Commission report a full day before congressional DEMOCRATS get briefed? Why does Condi get an extra day's head start to make up more lies and ass-covering nonsense, even before Bush gets briefed?

"Republican congressional leaders received a briefing on the report from the commission's leaders Tuesday, while the White House and top Democrats were scheduled to be briefed Wednesday."

"National security adviser Condoleezza Rice was scheduled to meet Wednesday with commission Chairman Tom Kean and Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton for a briefing on the report, with White House counsel Alberto Gonzalez accompanying her. The White House said Bush will get a copy of that briefing Thursday morning."

[livetohike]

1. Probably so they can start spinning

before the Democrats see it.

[LittleApple81]

2. They already did. There is another post on DU where they already

went to the press with it.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/21/politics/21panel.html?hp

July 21, 2004
G.O.P. Blames Clinton for Intelligence Failures
By PHILIP SHENON

WASHINGTON, July 20 - The political haggling over the conclusions of the Sept. 11 commission began in earnest on Tuesday, with the leaders of the commission traveling to Capitol Hill for the first of a series of private briefings for members of Congress about the panel's final report.

After their briefing, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and other House Republican leaders held a news conference at which they suggested that the report, which is scheduled to be made public on Thursday, would show that intelligence and law enforcement failures before the Sept. 11 attacks were more the responsibility of the Clinton administration than of the Bush administration.

"The report covers eight years of the Clinton administration and eight months of the Bush administration," Mr. Hastert said, insisting at the same time that he did not want to see the report turned into a "political football" during an election year.

<snip>
Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the House Republican whip, said that "clearly eight months of the Bush administration was not going to change all of the policies and procedures of eight years of the Clinton administration."

<snip>

[gauguin57]

3. Rep. Blunt, go Cheney yourself.

No "political football" indeed.

I hope Ben-Veniste and Bob Kerrey are all OVER the talk shows about this during the next few days.

[lancdem]

4. The report must not be terribly favorable to Bush

or they wouldn't have to spin it in advance. It would speak for itself.