Some saw it as far back as 2003. <$NoAd$>This from a July 17th 2003 piece in The New Republic …
Democrats say Rockefeller has not served as a particularly effective counterweight to Roberts. Despite his mighty name, bank account, and six-foot-seven-inch frame, Rockefeller is a low-key figure–a senator in the old collegial mold rather than a media-savvy partisan warrior. And he’s a relative newcomer to the world of spooks and secrets, having only joined the intelligence committee in 2001. Some Democrats complain that, in contrast to his predecessor, Graham, Rockefeller lacks the necessary expertise for his current role. Rockefeller himself warned as much last fall, telling Roll Call the committee’s term limits were “a big mistake.” “I know a lot about health care, but it took me about 10 to 12 years to learn that because it is very complicated. This is much more complicated.” Sometimes Rockefeller’s learning curve is evident. During a July 12 interview with National Public Radio on the Niger uranium fiasco, for instance, he incorrectly referred to Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, who apparently played a key role in the episode, as a Cheney aide–a small but important distinction.
More important, Democrats say Rockefeller has allowed Roberts to roll over him. For instance, in early June Rockefeller publicly threatened that, with the support of four other committee Democrats, he could force Roberts to conduct an open investigation. In fact, Rockefeller overstated his power-committee rules only allow members to force a closed meeting–but previous intelligence chairmen have generally honored such minority–party requests for broader investigations. When Roberts refused to observe that precedent, Rockefeller essentially yielded. And, although he had the power to block it, on June 20 Rockefeller signed off on Roberts’s plan to hold a handful of closed hearings, with the vague promise of one open hearing in September. The news came “to the serious dismay of the caucus,” says a Senate Democratic staffer. “Many in the caucus think Rockefeller is being used.”
This, of course, was well before the 2004 SSCI Iraq intel report travesty.
