I disagree with Joe Lieberman on a lot of things but I like him and I respect him… and this is an example of why:
MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell: “Speaker Pelosi came out today and essentially when asked if the CIA is lying, she said, ‘they mislead us all the time.’ Do you agree with that? Does the CIA mislead Congress all the time?”
Senator Joe Lieberman: “No, on that specific point, I totally disagree. You have to have confidence in the CIA. And over the 20 years I’ve been here, I’ve been briefed constantly by the CIA and I’d say that they’ve told me the truth, as they see it.”
H/T: Weekly Standard via Hot Air.
Nancy Pelosi is playing a dangerous game of chicken with the CIA. It seems pretty clear from what’s been reported that’s she’s lying about what she knew and when knew it. It also fairly obvious that the agency isn’t going to willingly be made the Democrats whipping boy.
Ed Morrissey asks the million dollar question:
And if the CIA really had lied to her in the briefings, why didn’t Pelosi start out with that explanation? In fact, why didn’t she mention that in 2005 when both the EITs and the briefings were made public? Coming four years later, this explanation lacks any kind of credibility.
William Jacobson analyzes the situation and concludes:
Here’s my prediction of what will happen if Democrats push the investigation to the bitter end causing damage to national security, a political death match with the CIA, and Democrat-on-Democrat finger pointing:
Steny Hoyer, Speaker; Jane Harman, Majority Leader; Nancy Pelosi, Chair of the House sub-committee on fresh water fisheries; Republicans, unexpected gains in 2010 mid-term elections.
The Democrats wished hard for an investigation into waterboarding and other interrogation methods. They may have wished too hard, because they are about to get what they wished for, with no way out.
I can’t say a disagree, I suspect by now many Democrats regret opening what has turned out to be a can hissing venomous snakes that threaten to bite them rather than their intended target.