Send Rover on over
Dear Karl:
And I can't help but notice that the AP is using the phrase "constitutional showdown." Make of it what you will. In one way the term lends more (ahem) gravitas to the situation than Karl and Friends really deserve. Do the Bushies think the American people will stand for more open defiance of the law at this point? 'Cause there is a little election next year, and if the GOP types running for office thought 2006 was bad, they need to start imagining how bad 2008 could be if they go to the mat over this.
The broad question for Republicans is this: what price will the GOP pay to cover for Karl Rove and the rest of the inept, unpopular and criminal Bush administration? As we saw in 2006, down-ticket Republicans suffered greatly.
I wonder how the prospect of say, 12 Republican state senators sits with their caucus. Voters will just start reflexively not voting for any Republicans at all, no matter how honest a few of them still are.
A House panel on Wednesday approved subpoenas for President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove and other top White House aides, setting up a constitutional showdown over the firings of eight federal prosecutors.And:
By voice vote, the House Judiciary subcommittee on commercial and administrative law decided to compel the president's top aides to testify publicly and under oath about their roles in the firings.
Bush, in a late-afternoon statement at the White House, decried any attempts by Democrats to engage in "a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants."As the AP article notes, the subpoenas woud still have to be approved by the full Judiciary Committee, headed by John Conyers. Which means Republicans are still wiggling around some, trying to cut stupid deals that amount to "we'll vote for the subpoena if Conyers can prove evidence of wrongdoing." Hey, I know there's a dead body and a guy standing over it with a gun in his hand, but let's not do anything hasty like ask him some questions.
"It will be regrettable if they choose to head down the partisan road of issuing subpoenas and demanding show trials when I have agreed to make key White House officials and documents available," the president said.
And I can't help but notice that the AP is using the phrase "constitutional showdown." Make of it what you will. In one way the term lends more (ahem) gravitas to the situation than Karl and Friends really deserve. Do the Bushies think the American people will stand for more open defiance of the law at this point? 'Cause there is a little election next year, and if the GOP types running for office thought 2006 was bad, they need to start imagining how bad 2008 could be if they go to the mat over this.
The broad question for Republicans is this: what price will the GOP pay to cover for Karl Rove and the rest of the inept, unpopular and criminal Bush administration? As we saw in 2006, down-ticket Republicans suffered greatly.
I wonder how the prospect of say, 12 Republican state senators sits with their caucus. Voters will just start reflexively not voting for any Republicans at all, no matter how honest a few of them still are.
