The editorial was on the failed intelligence reform bill.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/opinion/23tue1.html?oref=login
Some highlights:
And intractable was an understatement. The White House said the president contacted both Mr. Hunter and Mr. Sensenbrenner to urge them to compromise. The evidence suggests that either Mr. Bush was less than forceful in his pleas or the two veteran Republicans have a stunning lack of respect for the wishes of their newly re-elected chief executive. Mr. Hunter at one point rejected language written by Vice President Dick Cheney's lawyer. Mr. Sensenbrenner rejected a section of the bill even though it contained his own language
There's talk now about passing some version of the bill next month. As much as we want real intelligence reform, that's a bad idea if Mr. Bush is still not ready to step up. Senator Collins says she's through compromising. We support her enthusiastically. Too much harm has already been done.
Mr. Bush campaigned on the idea that he is the man to handle the aftermath of 9/11. But if he could not deliver a sound bill with the Democrats, most Republicans, the entire 9/11 commission, the 9/11 families and a lot of ordinary Americans backing him up, what will happen on something actually hard?
The House Republican leadership, which rammed the president's prescription drug bill to passage by keeping the vote open for hours past the deadline in order to strong-arm resistant legislators, seemed less than lethargic on this key issue. Tom DeLay, the House majority leader who found time last week to push through rules that would allow him to keep his post if indicted, kept a low profile. Speaker Dennis Hastert refused to permit a vote on the compromise bill rather than irritate the intractable committee heads.
I felt immediately when I heard this, like many of you: "Over three years and they still cant get a intelligence reform bill through. The Republicans have controlled the House for 3 years since 9/11 and the Senate for over two. What is going on?"
We need to beat this over the heads of the Republicans who are opposing it. Something everyone can agree on is: our intelligence community is bad. The intelligence for 9/11 was bad. We all know about Iraq. And now the Republicans dont want to pass a bill to reform it?
Although it is far away, I think we can use it has a wedge issue in 06. Something like: The Republicans want to compromise on intelligence reform. Do you?