Mullings: An American Cyber-column By Rich Galen

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A Bad Day in the Press Galleries

Friday, December 7, 2001

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Yesterday was yet another day of disappointment for many in the national press corps.

The press had worked itself into one of those frenzies it so enjoys over the spectacle of Attorney General John Ashcroft appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the issues of detaining suspected terrorists and the conduct of military tribunals.

For days members of the media had been denying themselves sleep, wearing itchy clothing, and wearing shoes a size too tight so they could match the anger, the fury, the rage, the ire of Democrats on the committee like its chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont).

This was going to be tough. This was going to be the highlight of the fall season. This was going to be the hearing the Democrats wanted to conduct when Ashcroft was up for confirmation last January - except the Republicans controlled the Senate that day.

The Democrats were going to make those shows about lions chasing wildebeests on the Discovery Channel look like Mike and Carol Brady arguing with Alice on Nick at Night.

Guess what? The Democrats must have had a briefing before the hearing which reminded them that something on the order of 7 out of 10 Americans think the Administration is doing exactly the right thing.

And this is why 70 percent of Americans disagree with the Democrats: "One option is to call Sept. 11 a fluke and to live in a dream world that requires us to do nothing different," Ashcroft said. "The other option is to fight back."

The best Leahy could do was to whine to reporters during a recess. According to a Washington Post website piece by Dan Eggen, Leahy "complained that the administration has given conflicting signals about how the military tribunals would be run."

The AP's Karen Gullo wrote, "Several other Democrats took pains to voice support even while asking tough questions, and there were few harsh exchanges."

The Democrats acted like, uh, kittens.

Back on the disappointment front, the stories about the Taliban caving in on - Ok, bad choice of words - preparing to surrender - Kandahar kept moving across the wires all day.

It was only a few weeks ago, remember, that we were being told that:

- Nothing much would happen in AhfGAHNeestahn until the spring;
- It would take an infusion of perhaps tens of thousands of ground troops to push the Taliban across the inhospitable terrain;
- Even after Kabul fell, the Taliban would re-form their lines in their "spiritual center" of Kandahar and it would take months, years, decades, to pry them out of there;
- The chances of getting an agreement on an interim government for AhfGAHNeestahn were nearly zero. (That was about 18 hours before just such an agreement was reached.)

Here was the lead on the CNN website last night: "The Taliban's supreme leader will surrender the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar on Friday."

Yesterday, according to an Associated Press report by Robert Burns, was the 61st day of the campaign.

Drat.

Meanwhile on the other side of the Capitol, yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee was tackling the BIG issue of whether Major League Baseball should be permitted to drop two teams next season.

Commissioner Bud Selig explained how baseball had lost about a half billion dollars last year and 25 of 30 teams were involved in those losses.

I don't know why these guys don't check with me. The first mistake baseball made was calling this process "Contraction." Could they have found anything more negative? Was "Collapse" not strong enough? Was "Disintegration" considered and somehow found wanting?

They should have called it - and, indeed should immediately BEGIN calling it - "Enhancement." Major League Baseball is attempting to "Enhance" the baseball experience for the entire nation. In this time of strife who doesn't want better baseball?

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