Reid accused conservatives of “protecting the President rather than protecting our troops” by “denying us an up or down vote on the most important issue our country faces.” He said that if a vote on the Reed/Levin Iraq legislation is not allowed today or tomorrow, he will keep the Senate in session “straight through the night on Tuesday” and force a filibuster. From Reid’s speech:

Republicans are using a filibuster to block us from even voting on an amendment that could bring the war to a responsible end. They are protecting the President rather than protecting our troops.

They are denying us an up or down — yes or no — vote on the most important issue our country faces.

I would like to inform the Republican leadership and all my colleagues that we have no intention of backing down.

If Republicans do not allow a vote on Levin/Reed today or tomorrow, we will work straight through the night on Tuesday.

The American people deserve an open and honest debate on this war, and they deserve an up or down vote on this amendment to end it.

UPDATE: Watch the video:

OpenLeft, Firedoglake and others have also called for Congress to call the conservatives’ bluff and force them to filibuster the Levin-Reed Iraq bill.

Read Reid’s full speech HERE. Bob Geiger has more.

As Vitter remained missing in action for two Senate votes on defense policy, Flynt insisted that he exposed the conservative lawmaker’s sexual indiscretions only because they contradicted Vitter’s longtime defense of the “sanctity of marriage.”

“If someone’s living a life contrary to the way they’re advocating … then they become fair game,” Flynt told reporters. “I don’t want a man like that legislating for me, especially in the area of morality.”

But in comments to reporters this morning, White House spokesman Tony Snow insisted that the administration is still committed to staying the course:

“There is no debate right now on withdrawing forces right now from Iraq,” Snow said.

“The president has said many times that as conditions require and merit that there will be in fact withdrawals and also pulling back from areas of Baghdad and so on,” the press secretary said. “But the idea of trying to make a political judgment rather than a military judgment about how to have forces in the field is simply not true.”

Indeed, according to Robert Novak, the administration is actively trying to reverse the trend among conservative senators, with National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley making visits to Capitol Hill to lay the groundwork for blaming a “depleted U.S. military” for the failure of Bush’s escalation strategy:

Hadley called his expedition a “scouting trip,” leading one senator to ask what he was seeking. It was not advice on how to escape from Iraq. Hadley appeared interested in how previous supporters had drifted from Bush’s course. In the process, he planted seeds of concern. Some senators were left with the impression the White House still does not recognize the scope of the Iraq dilemma. Worse yet, they see Bush running out the clock until April, when a depleted U.S. military will be blamed for the fiasco.

Novak adds that Hadley’s visit to the Hill “increased latent fears of the U.S. military being made the fall guy — a concern shared by many retired and some active senior officers, including a current infantry division commander.”

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Read their full letter below:

Dear 9/11 Families and Friends,

The bill implementing many of the remaining 9/11 Commissions recommendations is stalled because Senate Republicans have blocked an important ‘next step’. It is called a conference, where the House and Senate hammer out their differences on bills and is therefore a cornerstone of our democratic legislative process.

The bill in question, (S.4), is called Improving America’s Security Act. When enacted, it will improve security on the home front. It is long overdue for passage and as a consequence, American lives remain at risk.

Please voice your strong opposition to this partisan stall tactic. Call, email or fax Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office. Tell him to stop blocking the Conference on S.4. Tell him to let the bill move forward!

The contact information for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is (202) 224-2541 or McConnell@senate.gov or fax (202) 224-2499.

Thank you for your help.

Carol Ashley
Rosemary Dillard
Beverly Eckert
Mary Fetchet
Carie Lemack
Abe Scott

Specter said he wanted Fitzgerald to appear so he could press him to justify the CIA leak investigation. “Why were they pursuing the matter long after there was no underlying crime on the outing of the CIA agent?” Specter said, echoing the common right-wing talking point. “Why were they pursuing it after we knew who the leaker was?”

Leahy, on the other hand, is apparently more interested in learning more about Fitzgerald’s interviews with President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Watch it:

As for calling Scooter Libby to testify, Leahy said it was a dead end. “It would do no good to call Scooter Libby. His silence has been bought and paid for,” he said, referring to Bush’s commutation, “and he would just take the fifth.”

Transcript:

BLITZER: Senator Schumer of the Judiciary Committee wants you to call Patrick Fitzgerald to testify before your committee on this whole issue. Do you want to do that?

LEAHY: That’s something I would discuss with Senator Specter before I did, but I know how concerned Mr. Fitzgerald is. And we may very well find ourselves going down that path. It would do no good to call Scooter Libby. His silence has been bought and paid for, and he would just take the fifth.

BLITZER: Senator Specter, what do you think about bringing Patrick Fitzgerald before the committee?

SPECTER: Reluctant as I am to agree with Senator Schumer, I think he’s right. And I’ll tell you exactly why. As a former prosecutor, I don’t have any brief for perjury and obstruction of justice, but I still haven’t figured out what that case is all about. Mr. Fitzgerald himself took out of the case the outing of Valerie Plame as a covert agent. We knew that the leak was Armitage long before Libby was ever called as a witness. We have Judith Miller kept in jail for 85 days. I visited her in the jail on the issue of reporter’s privilege. That court case cost several million dollars to prosecute. And there are a lot of ramifications that I think we ought to go into. Why were they pursuing the matter long after there was no underlying crime on the outing of the CIA agent? Why were they pursuing it after we knew who the leaker was?

BLITZER: Let me go back…

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Go ahead, Senator.

LEAHY: I think if my friend Arlen, and like me, he’s also — you know, we were both former prosecutors. That’s where we first met. And we tend to take a prosecutor’s view on this. If he has no objection to Mr. Fitzgerald coming forward, I think you may very well see Mr. Fitzgerald before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On these things, what I’ve always done is discuss them first with Senator Specter because we tried to take a bipartisan attitude toward these matters. But I have some of the very same questions in mind that Senator Specter has laid out very well. And I think you might find it to be an interesting hearing.

BLITZER: I’m sure we will.

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Conyers today about new reports that the White House will refuse new congressional requests for documents about the U.S. Attorney firings.

Conyers decried the administration’s stonewalling, adding, “We’re hoping that as the cries for the removal of both Cheney and Bush now reach 46 percent and 58 percent [sic - 54 percent], respectively, for impeachment that we could begin to become a little bit more cooperative, if not amicable, in trying to get to the truth of these matters.” Watch it:

Stephanopoulos responded, “I’m surprised you put impeachment on the table there. Are you open to pursuing that?” Conyers said he was not putting it “on the table,” merely pointing out the views of the American people.

Transcript:

STEPHANOPOULOS: One of those individuals is the former White House deputy political director, Sara Taylor. Her lawyer wrote a letter yesterday saying that she wants to testify, but the White House won’t let her.

In that case, who would you hold in contempt, the individual or the White House? Her lawyers think she wants to testify.

CONYERS: Well, I certainly wouldn’t hold her in contempt. And we’re in negotiations with Mr. Fielding in the White House. We’re hoping that as the cries for the removal of both Cheney and Bush now reach 46 percent and 58 percent, respectively, for impeachment that we could begin to become a little bit more cooperative, if not amicable, in trying to get to the truth of these matters.

We have so much more work to do, George, as you know. And we keep getting stalled. They keep pressing us. We’re seeking cooperation. This is not partisan in any way whatsoever. I would have the same attitude if it were a Democratic president.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Congressman, we’re just about out of time. But I’m surprised you put impeachment on the table there. Are you open to pursuing that?

CONYERS: No, I didn’t put impeachment on the table. I was just telling you that 46 percent of the American people polled want Bush impeached, and 58 percent want Cheney impeached. I’m saying…

STEPHANOPOULOS: But not you?

CONYERS: They’re saying that we could — we could move — no, well, if I — if I wanted impeachment, I would probably be on your program next Sunday.

STEPHANOPOULOS: OK. Well, Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.

Asked how Bush’s commutation was different than some of President Clinton’s pardons, Gore said, “Well it’s different because in this case the person involved is charged with activities that involve knowledge of what his superiors in the White House did.” Watch it:

Both President Bush and Vice President Cheney authorized leaks of classified national security information to the media to defend the Iraq invasion, and Cheney wrote notes on Joseph Wilson’s original Iraq op-ed asking, “[D]id his wife send him on a junket?” But the full extent of their direct involvement in the leak of Valerie Plame’s identity remains unknown.

As the New York Times opined last week:

Presidents have the power to grant clemency and pardons. But in this case, Mr. Bush did not sound like a leader making tough decisions about justice. He sounded like a man worried about what a former loyalist might say when actually staring into a prison cell.

On the day of Libby’s guilty verdict, juror Denis Collins famously told reporters, “It was said a number of times, ‘What are we doing with this guy here? Where’s [Karl] Rove … where are these other guys?‘”

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Transcript:

Q. Before I let you go, I’d like to ask you about the Scooter Libby case and the fact the president commuted his sentence. What was your reaction to that?

GORE: Well, I thought it was very disappointing.

Q: Because?

GORE: Well, I thought it was improper. He is charged with having knowledge that could incriminate his bosses in the White House which included the vice president and the president. I thought it was very disappointing.

Q. And how is it different than when President Clinton pardoned, in some controversial cases…

GORE: Well it’s different because in this case the person involved is charged with activities that involve knowledge of what his superiors in the White House did.

UPDATE: Eat the Press has more.

Other notable moments from memory lane:

“The Iraqi people have their country back,” President Bush said at a NATO summit in Istanbul, Turkey. [...]

Bush, whose Iraq policy has drawn criticism abroad and, more recently, at home, was passed a note from National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice that put it this way: “Mr. President, Iraq is sovereign.”

Bush wrote “Let freedom reign!” on the note and passed it back, according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

A few hours later, U.S. viceroy Paul Bremer, who had ruled the country for 14 months, “snuck out of the country” with a goodbye wave. Bremer had reporters photograph him entering the Air Force C-130 pictured above for the ceremony, “but after the Iraqis leave, because of security concerns, [he] gets out of that plane and moves to, I think it was a Gulfstream IV that then flies him out.”

858 U.S. soldiers had been killed in Iraq at that point. As of today, the number is 3,570.

UPDATE: A copy of Rice’s note:

You can see this photo and much more in our updated timeline of the Iraq war.

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UPDATE: Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA): “It is now clear that we are not going to complete our work on immigration reform. That is enormously disappointing for Congress and for the country.”

As you know, the Vice President previously claimed he was exempt from an executive order governing classified materials because his office is not an “entity within the executive branch.” Yesterday, the Vice President changed his argument, saying he remained exempt from the order because he is a member of the executive branch.

While the excuses may have changed, the Vice President’s willingness to ignore the rules remains just as strong as ever. Democrats are prepared to hold the Vice President accountable and ensure that no one in our government is above the law.

A graph from Emanuel:

Justice Department officials had branded Charlton, the former U.S. attorney in Phoenix, disloyal because he opposed the death penalty in that case. But Charlton testified yesterday that Gonzales has been so eager to expand the use of capital punishment that the attorney general has been inattentive to the quality of evidence in some cases — or the views of the prosecutors most familiar with them.

“No decision is more important for a prosecutor than whether or not to . . . deliberately and methodically take a life,” Charlton said. “And that holds true for the attorney general.”

This passage…is simply misleading. There is no basis whatsoever for claiming that Bush’s NSA warrantless (and illegal) eavesdropping activities were “aimed at mostly people believed to pose a terrorist threat, not a political threat.” It is true — as [reporter Scott] Shane writes — that “there is no evidence” that the administration used its eavesdropping powers against, say, political opponents, but that fact is not exculpatory, because there is “no evidence” at all, one way or the other, regarding how the administration eavesdropped.

There has been no disclosure by the administration of any kind — not to Congress, nor to courts, nor to anyone else — of information revealing who was subjected to the administration’s warrantless eavesdropping program, a program which (by its terms and by design) was conducted in complete secrecy.

Read Greenwald’s full essay.

Wolf Blitzer cut his interview with Bill Cosby about inner city poverty to throw over to Carol Costello who was ‘watching another story’ — the story being the live shot of Paris Hilton getting out of her car.

As Costello voice-overed (”Paris Hilton is just arriving at the CNN studios…She’s arriving for an exclusive interview with our own Larry King”), the chyron similarly announced that “Paris Hilton Arrives For Post-Jail Interview With CNN’s Larry King” (a glorious event which was apparently “Happening Now”). How many “The Most Trusted Name In News” jokes can you make before it just makes you sad?