Republican shut down of Justice Dept hearings - raises a few more questions

[radfringe]

Questions:

• 1. Why did the republicans pull a ticky-tack rule out of the hat in an attempt to stop the hearing?

• 2. During the two-hour delay - was Sampson contacted by anyone from the Justice Department or the White House and reminded of the loyal bushie oath?

• 3. Was Sampson's testimony on the verge of divulging something incriminating - and to prevent it - the Republicans pulled the ticky-tack rule out of the hat?

• 4. Were the Republicans directed to "shut down the hearing" by any means necessary? If so, who directed them?

---snip--- Think Progress:

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/29/conservatives-shut-down-sampson-hearing/

Statement by Leahy when the hearings continued:

Leahy explains: “Just so people can understand what’s going on here. The lack of permission going forward has now been changed. I had raised questions and the — whatever objection there was on the Republican side has been withdrawn, so that we can continue. When Mr. Sampson comes back, we will start with Sen. Durbin. Somebody here just asked me if this all could have just been all an accident, that we had this lack of concurrence by the Republicans to go forward. I grew up in a faith that believes in miracles, and it’s conceivable as an accident, I’ve been here 33 years and I’ve never seen it happen before. So maybe it was, but I suspect it was not.”

[izzie]

1. I guess having your way for 6 years makes these hearing rub

the wrong way.

[radfringe]

2. apparantly it also

effects long/short term memory functions

[izzie]

13. Yes and they are so young.

It also looks like Christian colleges are having trouble with who they are putting into office. That women who was the head of GSA was really far out.

[Vinca]

3. Do we know who, specifically, pulled the plug on the hearing?

That was very, very strange. I'd like answers to all the questions you posed, too.

[cali]

5. shockingly it was

that Senatorial paragon: McConnell.

[Vinca]

6. I can't stand that guy, but it figures. His Senate seat is on the chopping

block so he needs to keep the Rovian forces in line.

[radfringe]

9. leaves a couple of more questions

Why did McConnell feel it was necessary to shut it down?

Did someone tell him to do it? If So, who?

between the lies, misdirections, memory problems, ever-changing stories, balking at testifying, and now this stunt -- it keeps pointing back to the same question:

WHAT ARE THEY HIDING?

[librechik]

17. Remember Colin Powell's aide trying to shut down the interview?

these people are ALL ABOUT shutting things down--never about building things up.

They shut down Congress

They shut down the Florida recount

they shut down Conyers basement hearing

etc etc etc

now this.

[Norquist Nemesis]

21. Minority Leader McConnell?

They could have at least thrown the task to Judd Gregg or Trent Lott.

Check the phone/blackberry records for McConnell's office. Maybe his wife put him up to it. *wink*

[radfringe]

7. no

any article mentioning it just said it was the Republicans

Whoever it was would have to be:

1. In a position of power to push it "through"

2. Familiar with all the ticky-tack rules or have the staffing to dig around for ways to shut down a hearing

3. A loyal bushie, kool-aid carrier, or butt kisser

4. Either connections to White House/Justice Department or fearful of being connected to scandal

I'd put down a bet that the 'call to shut down' originated from the White House, bush may have not been watching the hearings, but you can bet Rove had his eyes glued to it.

[madokie]

20. You just described rove

[radfringe]

8. dupe -- self-delete

[Ganja Ninja]

4. You can smell the desperation in the air. n/t

[tavalon]

10. kicked

[texpatriot2004]

11. It was no accident nm

[KharmaTrain]

12. McConnell Is Worse Than Frist

And that's not a bad thing. This dude loves playing the power games and has shown an ability...like Frist...to overplay his hand which ends up hurting his party. Be assured Mean Mitch was puffing on a butt and fuming while Sampson testified and wanted this mess to go away. He's the one who both knew the "manuever" to shut the hearings down and pulled the trigger. A mistake? Bullshit. Mitch sent a shot over the bow...cracking the whip for all to see from behind the scenes.

Note that this happened during questions from Chuckles Grassley...a rubbery rubber stamp now. He's been a critic of Gonzo Gates (anyone remember Trapper John MD??) and has been drifting from the reservation on other issues as well. Methinks this was directed as much at Chuckles and Sampson then it was to shut down the hearings.

[radfringe]

14. What happened to Chuckles afterward?

I do not have C-span3 - and a dial connections sucks for streaming... so I couldn't watch the hearings.

last I knew Chuckles was clueless about the hearing being stopped, when they would resume he was suppose to be up next to ask questions - but he wasn't there...

did he ever show up?

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

15. Good point. Did Grassley get to finish his line of questions?nt

[ljm2002]

25. No, Grassley was shut down...

...and then Durbin came up after the break.

So I suspect part of this was done to shut Grassley down, to silence a Republican voice that is off the reservation. But he would have been allowed to come back on (per Leahy, as they closed the session) -- maybe someone got to him and "encouraged" him to relinquish his time?

[cascadiance]

18. Grassley has always been one to contest what the FBI's been doing...

He's defended Sibel Edmonds, and he's also been after them under the Clinton administration too.

Not sure if it is a personal thing with him, but you can look back through history of his actions in the senate, and you'll see that pattern. I didn't see his line of questioning here, but perhaps his greater independence in going after government investigation methods here was what had McConnell scared of what might have happened next.

If McConnell is playing a "pull the plug" card, and doing it at a certain point when he feels that those on the stand need to be "reeducated" on the facts, etc. by pulling them off the stand for a while, that would imply to me that McConnell himself might know a bit about the details of the Justice Department's actions of malfeasance. If so, perhaps we should find a way to get HIM on the stand too, to explain why he stopped the testimony then.

[wicket]

16. Can someone give me the cliffs notes of what happened?

I'm WAAAAY out of it, thanks!

[seemunkee]

24. ..

During the hearing the rethugs pulled a parlimentary move to halt the hearing. That stopped questioning and gave Sampson some breathing room. I don't believe Grassley got to finish when they came back.

[wicket]

26. Thanks seemunkee!

:hi:

[helderheid]

19. my first thought was that they had stopped it to coach Sampson n/t

[Norquist Nemesis]

22. My first thought was they were trying to stop Kennedy's line of questioning

He was getting at the big picture.

[helderheid]

23. very plausible!