Too True! Specter and Cornyn Oppose Truth Commission

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

GOP senators Arlen Specter and John Cornyn are leaving no doubt where they stand on Senate Judiciary chair Pat Leahy’s proposal to create a Truth Commission to look into the Bush administration’s war on terror policies.

They oppose it.

In a press release the pair sent out, Specter said:

When this idea of the so-called ‘truth commission’ first surfaced I said it was unnecessary because you had a change of administration, you could walk in the front door, ask for directions to the relevant filing cabinet, go in and open the drawer and find out anything you wanted to know. Well that’s been done. And it’s being done to a greater extent. You had some rather startling disclosures with the publicity in recent days about the unusual, to put it mildly, legal opinions which were issued to justify executive action.

Cornyn added:

I oppose the creation of a so-called ‘truth commission’ because it is a redundant and politically divisive exercise that would distract the Executive, Congress, and the American people at a time when we should be focused on reinvigorating our economy and winning the war on terror. This roving, unaccountable inquisition into each and every grievance with a Bush Administration policy is a backward-looking proposition that is directly at odds with President Obama’s stated goals of unity and moving forward. Now is not the time for government to waste more of taxpayers’ money by outsourcing a core Congressional responsibility.

It appears these senators can’t handle the truth.

Latest Muckraker
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: