Chuck Schumer: “as aggravated as my colleague from Alaska is with me, I am with him. This is not intended to be political. I believe…”

“as aggravated as my colleague from Alaska is with me, I am with him. This is not intended to be political. I believe that our intelligence needs improvement. I think most Americans--Democrat and Republican--believe that. And if every time we say improve intelligence, look for different ways, people get accused of being political, that is the very point I am making. Let's debate this on the merits. Let's not call people names because they happen to disagree that our intelligence is doing a fine job. I don't. It may have been doing a fine job in the cold war for a cold-war era, but the whole tectonic plates of foreign policy have changed. Maybe it works and maybe it doesn't. I ask my colleague to go on the streets of any city in New York or any city in America, mine or his--in New York or Alaska--and ask the average citizen do they think the intelligence is working fine. My guess is they will say it needs tuning up. That is all this Senator is trying to do, without being political.”