The Senate's gutsy maneuver on Tuesday was actually the product of work done by none other than Tom Daschle.
Tom Daschle, we hardly knew ye.
Senate's Closed-Session Move Borne Out of Daschle's Strategy
By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 3, 2005; Page A06
It took Democrats about five seconds to trigger the parliamentary move that forced the Senate into a rare closed session this week, but it was more than a year in the planning[...]
But Reid did not have to start from scratch. His predecessor, former Democratic leader Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.), had considered going into closed session to discuss intelligence use and to spur the inquiry launched in early 2004.
But alas, before we get too soft on Daschle, we must remember that it was Harry Reid who had the guts to pull the trigger.
But...[Daschle] wanted the cooperation of Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).
"For the past couple of years, Senator Frist and I had agreed to hold an executive session," Daschle said yesterday. But Frist "kept putting it off." Daschle said several Democratic senators "threatened to do it over his opposition during that time, but it never got to that point."
Indeed, he put it off so long that he put it off until you had been deposed as a Senator, eh Tom? Well, at least we know that the closed session was something Frist had promised to do anyway (over a year ago), so his being pissed Tuesday seems a little strange.
And then there's this: Tom Daschle is calling for a withdrawal from Iraq (by 2007).
WASHINGTON- Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle says all U.S. troops ought to be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2007.
Sorry, I don't think you have a chance in hell of being the Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, but this does make me hold you in somewhat higher esteem.