via ABC:

The investigation of how the Republican leadership handled the issue has provoked turmoil and finger-pointing in Hastert's office, congressional sources say. Some of Hastert's principal aides have hired criminal defense lawyers to represent them during the investigation. Ted Van Der Meid, Hastert's chief in-house counsel, has retained Washington, D.C.-based attorney Lee Blalack, who also represents convicted former Congressman Duke Cunningham.

Denny is playing the " I can't remember" card. Maybe he should take a few of Pat Roberts memory pills. Whaddya think?

Still, they try to attack Nancy Pelosi.

Greg Sargent:

"Senator Pat Roberts is so determined to delay a real probe into the Bush administration's prewar deceptions that he's breaking the promises he makes in his own press releases...read on"

I've heard from sources close to this that Dick Cheney is pulling Pat Roberts strings. No surprise there. Now why would Dick Cheney not want Roberts to release the information? Any thought?

Anything that involves Sen. Pat Roberts is damned to be worthless.

As georgia10 notes:

The Senate Intelligence Committee voted today not to investigate the crimes of President George W. Bush. Instead, it will create a subcommittee for "oversight" of the illegal eavesdropping program....read on

Senator Rockefeller had this to say after the committee's vote:

"This committee is basically under control of the White House,'' Rockefeller told reporters after the two-hour meeting today in Washington. "It's an unprecedented bout of political pressure from the White House.''

FDL says that "there is no such thing as a moderate Republican."

The Republican rubber stamp, Pat Roberts discusses the NSA warrantless wiretapping on "Late Edition."
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Roberts: I'm an old newspaper guy. I worry about them, but you "Don't Have Civil Liberties if You're Dead"

(David had a little fun at the end of the clip and zoomed in on Pat.)

On MTP today, Pat whipped a bottle and said he needed to take a dose of "memory pills" after Tim asked him why they didn't they go to Congress and change the statute to allow for new activity in the warrantless wiretapping.

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Taylor Marsh has more...

Pat is so partisan that two potential witnesses during the Sen. Shelby-NSA leak investigation wouldn't testify because Roberts wouldn't recuse himself. As The Hill reported:

"The pace has been slowed by difficulties obtaining information, difficulties created partly by Sen. Pat Roberts's (R-Kan.) decision not to recuse himself from the case, the source said. The investigation has been conducted "off and on" for six months...One reason the investigation has dragged on is because Roberts's continued participation has chilled the cooperation of witnesses."

This investigation was barely reported on by the traditional media, but would have caused serious problems for Shelby and Republicans.

(Update):Arianna has her new Russert Watch posted.

"Today's Meet the Press featured an older male Senator hawking a bottle of pills. And no, these weren't little blue pills, and no, it wasn't Senator Bob Dole. It was another senator from Kansas, Sen. Pat Roberts, who, I kid you not, tried to make a point about the NSA scandal to his fellow panelists -- former Senator Tom Daschle, Rep...read on"

Glenn:

"There are lots of people who appear to be morbidly depressed -- to the point of conceding defeat -- as a result of yesterday’s unilateral obstruction by the incomparable White House shill Sen. Pat Roberts of the long-planned and long-promised investigation into the operational aspects of the NSA program by the Senate Intelligence Committee. That defeatist reaction and the borderline-self-pitying sentiments which accompany it are, for literally countless reasons, completely unwarranted...read on"

You know how I feel about Roberts.

Greenwald: At some point, even the most obsequious members of Congress are going to be moved by their own personal dignity into taking a real stand. Speaking of which, the Pat Roberts-loving Wichita Eagle editorialized yesterday as follows:

What's bothering many, though, is that Roberts seems prepared to write the Bush team a series of blank checks to conduct the war on terror, even to the point of ignoring policy mistakes and possible violations of law.

That's not oversight -- it's looking the other way.

There sure is a lot of public infighting in the previously dissent-free Republican family over this scandal, and that infighting only seems to be getting worse...read on

The Left Coaster: When Harry Reid shut down the Senate earlier this week due to Pat Roberts and Bill Frist’s stonewalling of a Phase Two investigation over how the Bush Administration used intelligence in making its case for war, many of us wondered why now? What took you guys so long to use a procedural lever that you’ve had available to you all along that could have been employed before the election to raise the issue of Bush’s lies into a campaign issue?...read on

Josh is making list of all the politicos that are using this commission to say there was no evidence of political manufacture and manipulation of intelligence when they were not authorized to investigate how policymakers used the intelligence assessments they received from the Intelligence Community. Josh takes a closer look.

Face The Nation 11/06/05 Rep. Pat Roberts

Roberts:..we asked them was there any any political manipulation or pressure. The Robb-Silbermann report on the WMD commission reached the same conclusion. Answer-No.

Ken Mehlman uses false intelligence claims

The "walking- talking point," parroted the same line that everyone saw the same information as the the administration did (false)and then cited the Silberman-Robb Commission(Josh debunked the using of this report) as evidence that the White House has been cleared of any manipulation of intelligence.

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We are still waiting for Pat Roberts to release his findings Ken. There's a lot more to discuss in this clip so go for it.

(Update): Talking Points Memo addresses the "full number of lies and half-truths that rolled out of Mehlman's mouth" in this small clip: " I know that some of my more cautious readers will blanch at my use of the "L" word. But when so many falsehoods and misleading statements are rolled atop each other, there's really no other description that fairly categorizes what the man is doing. ....read on