Liberal Democrats may tout openness, reform and transparency on the campaign trail but those promises never seem to make it past the Beltway when they return to Washington.In one of the more egregious examples of this truism, one needs to look no further than the efforts by Representative Jim McDermott (D-Washington) to pull a fast one and slip into the intelligence budget a provision that, in a backdoor way, impose fines and prison terms on intelligence officers who "abuse" captured terrorism suspects. The House Democratic leadership stopped a vote Thursday night on the $50 billion classified intelligence budget after Republicans mounted a campaign against one of its provisions to ban degrading treatment of detainees and some moderate Democrats indicated they would not vote for the bill.The Republican lawmakers, led by Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Michigan Republican, opposed what they saw as backdoor legislation that would impose fines and prison terms on intelligence officers who...(Read Full Post)