Capitol Graffitti Case-Still No Reponse from the Speaker

The Capitol Graffitti case seems to be going nowhere but oblivion and the Speaker's office has yet to issue any statement, hoping the whole matter might just go away. Yesterday's Washington Times had this editorial, culminating in these paragraphs:

In the best-case scenario here, Mrs. Pelosi now has in hand a great example of how not to handle out-of-control protesters, whose right to speak their minds is as involatile as their acts of violence or property damage are felonies and misdemeanors. Viewed properly, this episode gives Mrs. Pelosi some leverage to establish tough ground rules for future incidents -- in which case, the whole episode could be wrapped up as a miscommunication and end there.

Things are not always so simple in the party of Cynthia McKinney, however, which has a history of friction with the Capitol Police and a less-than-ideal record on policing and crime. In a charged political environment like the present, Democrats have a hard enough time fending off their anti-war base's charges of sheepishness and insufficient anti-war ardor without seeming to muzzle protesters. It would be easy enough to imagine them relaxing the rules a bit to avoid that perception.

We don't know who gave the order to let the vandals approach the Capitol, although it was reportedly issued by Capitol Police Chief Phillip Morse and his deputy. But if this policy comes from the Democratic leadership, it would be quite a shabby thing. At least we know we'll hear about it if that is the case. Lax security would infuriate officers, undoubtedly to the point of creating whistleblowers among them.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi still has not issued a statement about the incident or what her response will be. Between the Speaker's Office and the Senate Majority Leader's office, the Capitol Hill Police are supposed to work with the two chambers to provide physical security for the Capitol complex, but to simply allow "anarchists" to approach the Capitol would have been enough, but to apparently order officers to stand by while these same protesters deface government property is the height of dereliciton of duty.

While it might be true that the anarchists hope to incite an incident which they could capture on video and show as the "oppresive regime" of America, it does not follow that allowing graffitti was necessary to prevent a confrontation. Capitol Police are supposed to be among the best trained cops in America, surely they would be able to effect a few arrests without getting into an all out brawl with protesters.