Kangaroo Court

Go ahead, argue amongst yourselves.

The Bush administration’s proposal to bring leading terrorism suspects before military tribunals met stiff resistance Thursday from key Republicans and top military lawyers who said some provisions would not withstand legal scrutiny or do enough to repair the nation’s tarnished reputation internationally.

Democrats, meanwhile, said they were inclined to go along with Senate Republicans drafting an alternative to the White House plan, one that would allow defendants more rights. That left Republicans to argue among themselves about what the tribunals would look like and threatened to rob the issue of the political momentum the White House hoped it would provide going into the closely fought midterm elections.

So much for using terror as a wedge issue. Karl cannot be happy, though I am sure Dick is in the background ready to threaten a... oh, wait, we have a lame duck, 38% president in a Congressional election year, there will be no arm twistin' tonight. Karl cannot be happy.