Gamesmanship is nothing new to either--or all--sides in Washington.But the GOP surely hit a low yesterday. We know the details thanks to Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank's canny reporting from the Hill.
The setting was the House Judiciary Committee, where one of the architects of the Iraq invasion, Douglas Feith, was scheduled to testify. Feith recently wrote a ridiculous op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal defending both the decision and the process used to make that decision, to go to war.
He certainly appears sure of himself and the rationale used by the White House, so you'd think Republicans would be delighted to hear what he had to say in his defense.
But nooooooooooooooooooooo. The GOP does not want you and I to hear what Feith has to say. Not at all. Instead, Rep. Steve King, Republican from Iowa, and Rep. Darrell Issa, Republican from California, spent most of the hearing in juvenile antics intended to delay and hold things up.
They demanded a roll call vote at the start of the proceeding. They objected to unanimous consent to proceed. Issa made a point of "parliamentary inquiry" to "summon" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the hearing.
They then insisted on strict adherence to a five minute rule for questioning by each Committee member, instead of extending the usual courtesies of extending time.
So, it's pretty obvious that, by making complete asses of themselves in the Committee hearing, King and Issa had something they wanted to hide. The question is, what is it?
