2 Rep. Sens. concoct "colloquy" that never took place - what nerve!

[donsu]

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/007217.php


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Today the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. The Court will be called upon to determine--among other things--whether a provision in last year's Detainee Treatment Act ("DTA") effectively strips the Court of jurisdiction to hear Hamdan's case. The Government contends that it does and in support of this position, Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and John Kyl have filed an amicus brief with the Court.

This amicus brief argues that the legislative history of the DTA supports the Government's position. Specifically, the brief cites a lengthy colloquy between Senators Kyl and Graham themselves which purportly took place during a Senate floor debate just prior to passage of the bill.

Sounds harmless, huh? Here's the catch:

Apparently this entire 8 page colloquy--which is scripted to read as if it were delivered live on the floor of the Senate, complete with random interruptions from other Senators--never took place.

A.L. points out the Emily Bazelon at Slate was the one who first confirmed this after lawyers for Hamdan pointed this out in their brief (emphasis mine):

In their own brief to the court, Hamdan's lawyers said that Kyl and Graham's colloquy didn't take place on the floor of the Senate. As evidence, they cite the C-SPAN tape for the debate leading up to the Dec. 21 voice vote. Kyl and Graham don't appear. (See for yourself.) Senate officials confirm that the Graham-Kyl colloquy was inserted.
...
At another , Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., appears to interject a question. "If I might interrupt," he begins.

I called Brownback's office to ask if he'd given this testimony live on the Senate floor. "Yes, it was live," an aide told me. I said that I'd been told otherwise by Senate staffers and mentioned the C-SPAN tape. "Let me call you back," the aide said. She never did. Nor did Kyl or Graham's press reps.

Folks, regardless of whether you support Bush or not, if what Hamdan's lawyers and Bazelon report is true (and it appears to be true) this is fraud of the worst kind - fabricating a debate/conversation just to prove their rubber-stamp loyalty to the weak King George (who is so weak he has no guts to fire anyone and meekly accepted the resignation of Andy Card).
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republicans lying and cheating their way to fame and riches. giving us the finger in the process.

[SCDem]

1. Yes that was talked about yesterday

I emailed it to other democrats in my state - got 3 responses back - 2 that Graham is on the whole better than our other Republican Senator and 1 addressing the issue that is actually at hand - he said that it was not perjury but possibly fraudulant and definitely disgusting and deceitful.

I think it's just interesting that they revised their floor comments to look as if they actually had a floor debate when they didn't. This whole administration and Republicans that are fawning all over themselves to support * rather than the rule of law or the constitution are more concerned with perception and PR than the actual law of the land.

[MH1]

2. "Fraud of the worst kind" incidents

are happening so fast with this crowd that I can't keep up.