Wiretap: Udall on frontline in escalating Senate-CIA battle over snooping

 
Mark Udall finds himself in the middle of the CIA-Intelligence Committee spat in which chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, in a remarkable speech, accused the CIA of improperly removing documents from Senate computers. The committee has been working for four years on a report about the CIA’s Bush-era handling (read: torture) of prisoners. In a review of the report, which is not yet complete, the CIA objected strongly to some of the report’s conclusions. But, in an internal CIA review obtained by the Senate, the CIA seemed to contradict its own objections. These are the documents the CIA wanted back.

The fight went semi-public in a March 4 letter to Barack Obama in which Udall spoke of “unprecedented action taken by the CIA against the [Intelligence] Committee in relation to the internal CIA review, and I find these actions to be incredibly troubling for the Committee’s oversight responsibilities and for our democracy.” And now some Republicans are saying that Udall, by calling an unnamed action “troubling,” revealed too much. In a Politico story, Democrats are saying the accusation is just so much election-year politicking.

John Cassidy writes that the lesson in the Florida special-election loss is obvious: Since Democrats can’t run from Obamacare, they have no choice but to embrace. Via the New Yorker.

Sean Trende offers an interesting post-mortem about the Florida election, even though he got the result wrong. Via Real Clear Politics.

Colorado’s Republican U.S. Rep Scott Tipton and Democratic U.S. Rep Jared Polis, and GOP state Senator Ellen Roberts agree the U.S. Forest Service is setting a dangerous precedent in moving to take control over ski-area water rights. President Obama has taken the side of the Forest Service. But “it’s not [the Forest Service’s] water. It was private water all the time,” says Kristin Moseley, a Vail Resorts lawyer. Via the Durango Herald.

The less we know about the lost Malaysia Flight 370, the more the theories grow. Via the New York Times.

Does Nate Silver really scare the Democrats more than the Koch brothers do? It seems that’s how the Democratic fundraisers see it. Via the Atlantic.

For those who think the Obama joke-fest with Zach Galifianikis was unseemly (that means you, Bill O’Reilly), they ought to read up on Honest Abe’s brand of humor. Let’s just say that it wasn’t exactly dignified. Via Salon.

The movie Clarence Thomas really doesn’t want to see: A new documentary “Anita,” about Anita Hill. Via the New York Times.