Senator Reid's Rule 21 Maneuver Worked

If you missed all the fireworks in the Senate yesterday, you can find the video here. The clip includes an angry Senator Reid invoking Rule 21 and forcing the Senate into secret session, Frist's response to the maneuver, and CNN 's Jack Cafferty's reaction to all this.

I read yesterday that Reid's timing had to be perfect. Bill Frist, as majority leader, could overrule such a maneuver, so Reid had to execute it when Frist was not in the Senate chamber. Frist was not present, so all the Senate chair could do was order the closed session.

The bottom line here is that Reid's ploy worked:

The Senate reopened about two hours later, after members agreed to appoint a bipartisan group of senators to assess the progress of the "Phase 2" probe, the office of Majority Leader Bill Frist said.

The three Republicans and three Democrats are to report back to Senate leaders by November 14.

Democrats accused Roberts of stalling the probe into how administration officials handled the intelligence used to sell Congress and the public on invading Iraq.

Roberts, a Kansas Republican, said the closed session was "not needed, not necessary and, in my personal opinion, was a stunt."

I agree with Senator Roberts that it was a stunt -- but it was a stunt that finally got him to get up off of his ass and will hopefully force him to do something about Phase II of his committee's investigation into the Iraq Intel Debacle. It will be interesting to see whether he does something substantive, or merely continues to aid and abet the traitors in the Bush Regime.

UPDATE: Here is some great stuff from Glenn Greenwald regarding the GOP's "collective" response to all this.

UPDATE II: This is great (from Hoffmania):

Kur reported on this morning's press briefing and the fine words of Scott McClellan:

"Senator Reid may want to look at how the previous administration and Democratic leaders such as himself used the intelligence to come to the same conclusion that Saddam Hussein and his regime were a threat"

Nice try, Scotty. Kur pointed out that the Democrats on the hill can and will contend that his words are disingenuous - and that the Bush administration used the intel to trick and manipulate the country into an actual war.

Then Scotty decided to pull out a 1998 quote from Clinton:

"Saddam Hussein's regime threatens the safety of his people, the stability of his region, and the security of all of us."

Kur: "Well, that sounds pretty good in terms of that argument, too - until one of the reporters in the room yelled at Scott McClellan and said, 'Yeah, but President Clinton didn't take us to war!'"

Oh, that's just too damned sweeeet.