From Steve Clemons "The Washington Note"
This story has been percolating for weeks, but few have serious journalists have looked at the triple layer chess confrontation that is being waged by multiple players in this process.
On one front, the White House has defied Senate Foreign Relations Committee CHAIRMAN Richard Lugar -- a Republican and supporter of Bolton -- on his request for the NSA intercepts. On another, John Negroponte flipped off Senator Biden by stating that to get information on the NSA intercepts, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would have to grovel before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for further information.
On yet another front, Senator Pat Roberts prevented Senators Lugar and Biden from attending the NSA intercepts briefing two and a half weeks ago given by Deputy Director of National Intelligence Michael Hayden.
But today, finally, these battles have erupted and have had political impact -- though all of this was brewing for a very long time with little reporting. Isikoff and Hosenball report that because of the failure of the administration to comply with Senate evidence requests, the Bolton opposition may appeal for and actually get yet another delay on the Bolton vote.
This would be useful as there is more on the Bolton story to tell the nation, and a few more days could be important.
more...
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000662.html