The Stupid and Corrupt Leading the Blind...

“The new head of the house intelligence committee, Congressman Sylvester Reyes, failed a quiz on terrorist organizations given to him by the Congressional quarterly... He didn’t know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite. He didn’t seem to know what Hezbollah was. So apparently the term ‘intelligence committee’ is just a suggestion, not a requirement.”
- Jay Leno, Dec. 13, 2006


“Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah... Why do you ask me these questions at 5 o’clock?”

So responded Silvestre Reyes, a former border guard from Texas, in reply to a question about the Lebanese terror group. He seemed less than sure of himself. Previously, he’d described al-Qaeda as being “predominantly... probably Shiite.” Al-Qaeda, as most fifth-graders now know, is completely, utterly Sunni.

That a former border guard knows nothing about terrorists in the Middle East is hardly news. What is newsworthy, however, is that this former border guard is now chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for the United States House of Representatives. The next day, Reyes sought to quell the media frenzy by assuring the American people his committee would “keep its eye on the ball.” This semiliterate border guard is now one of our nation’s top defense leaders, thanks to the far-seeing wisdom of incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Don’t put all of the blame on poor Nancy. Her first choice for the post, Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL), would have generated even more bad press. Alcee, you’ll recall, is one of only six federal judges in history to be impeached. According to the police, Alcee accepted a $185,000 bribe from Thomas Romano in exchange for a lenient sentence and the return of seized assets. He didn’t serve jail time for the charges only because his co-conspirator, William Borders, refused to testify in court, serving jail time instead.

On his last day in office, Bill Clinton pardoned William Borders, despite the fact that the House voted for impeachment 414-3 – including Nancy Pelosi and Charles Rangel. Today, Alcee heads the Homeland Security subcommittee of the House’s Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.