Reply #39: You couldn't be more wrong

[HooptieWagon]

Graham asked about an NIE, was suprised one had not already been prepared. When an NIE was prepared, Graham was surprised that the classified version had many more caveats than the de-classified version distributed to Senators' offices and Bush rhetoric. Graham , on the floor of the Senate, most emphatically urged Senators to read the classified version of the NIE before casting their IWR votes. It was the greatest warning he could give to fellow Senators that BushCo was lying, without revealing classified information. Only 6 Senators read the classified NIE (from log-in records). All 6 voted against the IWR. Hillary didn't read the classified NIE, and voted for the IWR. Edwards, despite being a co-sponsor of the IWR, also din't read the NIE.
Graham was my senator, and I was exceptionally pleased with his judgement and political courage in voting against the IWR. Voting for war is perhaps the most serious action a senator can take, and I find it inexcusable that so many chose to score political points by backing a war they figured would be swift, successful, and popular, and they didn't even bother to read the classified NIE.
Oh, and Graham was not the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time, repugs had taken back the Senate in '02, and Graham was replaced by a repug then.