Tuesday, March 13, 2007
The midterm election bears fruit
Much as I like to grouse about Congress when things don't go just the way I want them too...(for goodness sakes, the nation is with US in being against the war so stop pussyfooting around about it!) I would like to point out that the Justice Department firing scandal is fruit being harvested by the nation from the election of 2006, which gave Democrats power in Congress.
The entire prosecutor firing scandal would never have happened without Democratic leadership in Congress. There may have been mumblings and some outrage with the lefty blogs, but the Republican leadership of Congress would never have conducted an oversight hearing. The fired prosecutors would never have been called to testify. The calls from Republican Congress members pressuring the prosecutors to launch politically motivated investigations would never have been made public. Remember, the prosecutors were being good Republicans about this and keeping quiet. The testimony before Congress is what really kicked this scandal into overdrive.
All of this would have never even rippled the pond of the main stream news outlets. It may have made interesting fodder for some back page diaries on Kos, and some c list bloggers may have tried to raise a fuss, but without Democrats running Congress this story gets nowhere. The Justice Department would have gotten away with the same old pattern we've seen for years in this White House: being allowed to run roughshod over the system in an entirely wrongheaded manner, and Republicans in Congress would have looked the other way.
In today's press conference, Attorney General Gonzales purported to accept responsibility for the scandal. In the same press conference Gonzales admits that testimony before Congress by the Justice Department about the firings was incomplete and misleading. The Attorney General is admitting that the Justice Department committed perjury and obstructed Congress. If he actually did take responsibility in deed rather than just word, he would have announced his resignation at the press conference.
Indeed, his resignation is what this may come down too actually. That would be a veritable golden apple when it comes to fruit harvested from the mid term election.
The entire prosecutor firing scandal would never have happened without Democratic leadership in Congress. There may have been mumblings and some outrage with the lefty blogs, but the Republican leadership of Congress would never have conducted an oversight hearing. The fired prosecutors would never have been called to testify. The calls from Republican Congress members pressuring the prosecutors to launch politically motivated investigations would never have been made public. Remember, the prosecutors were being good Republicans about this and keeping quiet. The testimony before Congress is what really kicked this scandal into overdrive.
All of this would have never even rippled the pond of the main stream news outlets. It may have made interesting fodder for some back page diaries on Kos, and some c list bloggers may have tried to raise a fuss, but without Democrats running Congress this story gets nowhere. The Justice Department would have gotten away with the same old pattern we've seen for years in this White House: being allowed to run roughshod over the system in an entirely wrongheaded manner, and Republicans in Congress would have looked the other way.
In today's press conference, Attorney General Gonzales purported to accept responsibility for the scandal. In the same press conference Gonzales admits that testimony before Congress by the Justice Department about the firings was incomplete and misleading. The Attorney General is admitting that the Justice Department committed perjury and obstructed Congress. If he actually did take responsibility in deed rather than just word, he would have announced his resignation at the press conference.
Indeed, his resignation is what this may come down too actually. That would be a veritable golden apple when it comes to fruit harvested from the mid term election.
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