http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/145367_pot25.htmlSaturday, October 25, 2003
Potomac Watch: McDermott still blasting out his message: Bush lied
By CHARLES POPE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
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McDermott, the Democrat from Seattle, got into hot water last year when he said from Baghdad in September 2002 that Bush "misled the American people" to build support for military action in Iraq.
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He took to the House floor Monday and tried using a congressional privilege in a unique way. Moving to protect the "integrity" of the House, McDermott sought to attach very large asterisks to the State of the Union address President Bush delivered Jan. 28 charging sections were stuffed with known falsehoods. Allowing such untruths to remain unchecked in the Congressional Record, he said, would put a stain of disrepute on Congress.
"The president fed us these misrepresentations from the floor of the people's House, and he used them to pave the path to war. Now that we know the facts, I am asking the House to make a note in the record that these statements were inaccurate," McDermott said.
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The presiding officer of the House, however, would not play along. The chair ruled McDermott's motion out of order, concluding that it did "not give rise to a question of privileges of the House."
"I am disappointed that the speaker did not recognize the magnitude of this issue and did not allow debate on my resolution to be considered by the full House. My goal was to protect the Congressional Record for this and future generations so that they can understand the facts behind these statements."
But even though his long-shot quest was denied, not all was lost. Since McDermott made his case from the House floor, the entire episode will be available for all, verbatim, in the Congressional Record.
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That's my Congressman!
s_m