Sunday Morning Shows: Terror and the Supreme Court

The London terror attacks took center stage on the Sunday morning news shows today.

Michael Chertoff appeared on NBC'c Meet the Press, ABC's This Week, and even CBS' lowly Face the Nation, while Fran Townsend went to FOX News Sunday.

It was the same old, same old from Chertoff and Townsend.

We're doing a lot, but we have to do more and do what we're already doing better.

In a discussion on FOX, Pat Roberts and Chris Dodd talked terror with Brit Hume.

Not surprisingly, Dodd used the opportunity to bash the Bush administration. He whined about there not being enough money to protect transportation.

Hume pointed out that money is being spent at the local level through grants, etc.

Dodd said that's not good enough since most of the states are in debt.

Hume asked Dodd, "How, specifically, would you make buses safe?" Dodd said that more federal funds being spent on dogs and personnel to monitor our mass transportation would do the job.

How lame! Yeah, it's that simple.

Roberts focused on the importance of good intelligence. He relayed some observations from his recent visit to Gitmo. He told stories of the great medical care detainees receive there. He spoke of watching them play ping-pong and soccer.

Roberts said we're getting great information from the interrogations going on at Gitmo and that we're using "carrots, not sticks" to do it.

Hume wanted to know if the London attacks would mean the end of the Dem movement to close Gitmo. When he asked Dodd if Dems are more worried about the treatment of prisoners or getting good intelligence, Dodd replied, "Well, both."

The renewal of the Patriot Act then came up. Will the amendment to soften it go away now?

Dodd said, "No."

Roberts said that libraries and bookstores should not be exempt from our efforts to root out terrorists.

Dodd says we need solidarity on the issue of terrorism, but not at the price of our civil liberties. He said we can't have this wholesale examination of books people read.

In response, Hume asked Roberts if there has been a "wholesale examination" as Dodd suggested.

Of course, Roberts replied, "No."

Dems love to distort the realities of the Patriot Act. They want to create doubt in people's minds and create fears that are unfounded in order to win support. They've done it for years with social security; and they do it whenever they bash the Patriot Act, legislation they voted to pass nearly unanimously in 2001.

The Supreme Court was also an issue on the shows this morning.

Orrin Hatch and Chuck Schumer discussed it on Meet the Press.

Tim Russert cut right to the chase and asked Chuckie about his phone call from the Amtrak train.

Russert directly asked if he said that the Dems were "going to war" over the Supreme Court vacancy.

Chuckie flatly denied it. He said the bottom line was that the President needed to choose a "consensus nominee." When Russert pressed him about the phone call, Chuckie danced around, looked embarrassed, and came off like a liar.

Chuckie admitted that he did say, "We won’t roll over if it's not a consensus nominee."

Russert said that it appears the Senate wants joint authority to choose the nominee. He questioned Chuckie about the appropriateness of this. Chuckie focused on the need for consultation. He threatened that Bush should nominate someone that everyone can back in order to avoid a divisive fight.

Hatch correctly shot back that when the Dems say "consultation," they mean "done their way." He pointed out that the Bush administration has done an incredible amount of consultation already, more than has ever been done by any administration.

Funny how that doesn't get reported by the mainstream media.

Chuckie talked about how when Clinton was choosing nominees for the Supreme Court, he consulted with Hatch.

Hatch clarified a dramatic difference between then and now.

Hatch said that he didn’t threaten to filibuster or make demands the way the Dems are doing today.

He noted that the Constitution does NOT require consultation. The President is offering it as a courtesy, but the Dems are demanding it as their right.

Chuckie said Hatch has that wrong. He asserted that the Dems know they can’t choose the nominee. Nonetheless, he made it known that they want a conservative like Sandra Day O’Connor to be nominated.

Will the Dems filibuster?

Schumer said that they won't rule it out. They want to avoid it by making sure that the President chooses someone they will support.

That's a threat, Chuckie.