When asked a question during a press conference today, with the Mexican president, President Bush was asked about the firings of many federal prosecutors. His answer was, "Mistakes were made." It continued with a lot of forgettable political rhetoric about how Gonzales will have to explain everything to the American people.

Have we heard "mistakes were made" before?

Of course, the first time was about the Iraq war. The house and senate recently tried to have a solution to stop more mistakes from happening. That did not work. Let me explain:

Recently, the US House passed a nonbinding resolution to oppose the surge in troops sent to Iraq. The senate tried to pass a similar motion, but "failed to muster the necessary 60 votes." This explanation may satisfy the average (uninformed) voter, but to anyone who knows either a minimal amount of history or who possesses a minimal understanding of our government, this doesn't hold water. The vote that failed by 3 votes was a vote for cloture, a vote to end debate on the measure. The measure itself only required 51 votes!

For those not informed, here is the nature of a cloture vote. If 60 Senators vote to end debate, the vote is then held, if not, the supporters and opponents can debate the issue until they are tired. Strom Thurmond debated against a civil rights bill for over 24 hours before he couldn't continue, at which point it passed. The debate does not even have to be relevant, senators have resorted to reading from a phone book to keep talking. This by the way, is the much dreaded "filibuster."

The minority on a vote can just announce that they want to filibuster, and unless the majority leader requires them to actually talk, the measure goes to a cloture vote, and if the cloture fails, so does the measure. The key phrase here is the fact that the majority leader may still require a floor debate to filibuster.

So why did Hagel, Reid, and the other Senators opposed to killing more soldiers policing a civil war blink? Was it cowardice or laziness?

I doubt that it was laziness, not because of Pelosi's 5 day work week, but because of my suspicions about Reid. Reid was the key figure required to force actual debate on the issue. Reid is also an old party hack, and I fear that he just wanted to hold the cloture vote and get the Iraq war behind him so that the Senate could resume handing out cooperate welfare to the highest bidder-er, the person who made the largest campaign donation.

But Reid could yet prove me wrong. If he suspended rule 22, and invited the Republicans to debate why they support the war until they are blue in the face, it would force the cheerleaders of dead soldiers to work for their killing. Whether the murderers or the supporters of the troops won, it would send a powerful message to the troops in the trenches that the Senate as well as the House wants to bring them home to their families.

But "mistakes were made" with the Iraq War.

Now, "mistakes" also were made with the Walter Reid Hospital that injured soldiers can be sent to if they need care.

I think it is time that someone have the balls to call for an outside prosecutor to investigate these and many "mistakes" this administration has been making, but alas, those prosecutors might have just been fired.

How many more "mistakes" can the public expect to see in the future from this administration?

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About the author: Amanda Baker is a long time contributor of Useless Knowledge.

Email: amaycatbaker@yahoo.com

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