UTTER CONTEMPT

Republicrooks take time out to morph into Republiclowns

Yesterday the House voted 223-32 in favor of contempt citations for White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. Only 32 voted no. Well, kind of. Let me explain. After voting against extending FISA legislation yesterday, John "Weepy" Boehner and the rubber stamp brigade staged a mass walk-out to protest the lack of a FISA bill and a Democratic "fishing expedition" against Bush Regime operatives. It was silly, like Boehner himself.

Only one Democrat-- or quasi-Democrat-- Texas reactionary Henry Cuellar voted no. The 220 other Democrats voted in favor of holding the two Bush officials-- each of whom had failed to respond to a congressional subpoena in regard to the illegally fired U.S. Attorneys-- in contempt of Congress. On the GOP side, 163 rubber stamp loons participated in Boehner's pathetic stunt. Three Republicans among the 35 who didn't walk out-- Wayne Gilchrest, Walter Jones and Ron Paul voted with the Democrats-- and Jon Porter voted "present." Among the 31 who voted against issuing contempt citations were vulnerable Bush rubber stamps Randy Kuhl (NY), Vito Fossella (NY), Peter King (NY), Mark Kirk (IL), and California's most extremist member of Congress, Gary Miller.

“I hope this administration will realize this Congress is serious about its constitutional role of oversight,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Pelosi, who stated that she “had hoped that this day would never have come,” added that, if White House officials instruct Department of Justice attorneys not to prosecute the contempt citations, “we will have power to go to federal court and seek civil enforcement of our subpoenas.”

Republicans argued that Congress should not seek a showdown with the White House on the issue, claiming that losing the case would hurt the legislative branch in the long run.

Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) said the case “creates the potential to undermine the power of the first branch of government.”

Members of both parties drew up nightmare scenarios, with Dreier indicating that losing a court case on the issue would make Congress a lesser branch, while Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) said not acting now would embolden future presidents to exert executive privilege more often.

The House acted Thursday after months of negotiations between Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and White House officials, and Pelosi blasted the Bush administration for stonewalling.

The White House offered to allow House investigators to question Bolten and Miers privately under strict conditions. Investigators would not have been allowed to make a transcript of the examination or copy documents. The House also would have had to agree not to seek further information, said Democrats.  
Democratic leaders rejected the conditions out of hand, arguing that no lawyer would agree to such constraints.  

“This is beyond arrogance,” said Pelosi. “It’s hubris taken to the ultimate degree.”

Conyers said he had already discovered “plenty of evidence of wrongdoing at the Department of Justice. He said officials made the decision to fire attorneys on the basis of whether they had pursued public corruption charges against Democratic government officials. He also said that Justice officials made misleading statements to investigators minimizing the apparent involvement of White House personnel in the firings.

Listen to Speaker Pelosi explain, clearly, what the issue is here: