This afternoon some Democrats are meeting with White House counsel Fred Fielding to work out details for the testimony of Karl Rove et al. regarding the U.S. Attorney situation. Paul Kiel writes at TPM —
According to MSNBC just now, White House counsel Fred Fielding offered Democrats interviews with Karl Rove and other White House officials, but the testimony would be unsworn, behind closed doors, and no transcript would be permitted.
The headline is “White House Makes An Offer Dems Can Refuse.”
Chuck Schumer is sayin’ no deal.
We could have a real fight on our hands, folks. Let’s hope.
Update: I understand House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers held a press conference and expressed his disappointment that the White House wasn’t more cooperative. The Judiciary Committee will begin the task of issuing subpoenas tomorrow morning.
You have to give Fielding credit for going through the motions. No sane person could have believed that would fly. Considering how comfortable administration characters are with blowing smoke up various orifices when under oath and in public, and how tired Senators have gotten of it, such an arrangement hardly seems necessary.
And now bush is going on tv at 5:45. What can he possibly have to say 2 days in a row?
“please don’t hit me with that chair, waah waah waah,” in that same voice he mimicked that now famous texas death row inmate……..
Bush says ” Bring it on!” You take what I give you and be happy, or you don’t get anything at all. He’s the decider.. ya got that!
WOW…what happened to the famous smirk? Wonder how many drinks he had before the press conf. ? And did you see how fast he left the podium Monday after his little terse talk noting the anniversary of his crime (the war). Cute huh?
So glad they aren’t making it easy for Bush this round. Secrecy is not required or even a good idea.
Sorta like an admission there is something to hide.
Bush accuses Democrats of playing politics with the justice department scandal? Wow, he may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but he’s got one big pair of balls! I would like to know if the bill rejecting this new found authority (appointing federal prosecutors without senate confirmation) is retroactive? Does Bu$hco get to keep his newly appointed cronies without sending them through the Senate. Also the Faux news talking points for the last week has been that Clinton fired all 93 prosecutors at the beginning of his term. Didn’t Bu$hco also fire all 93 at the beginning of his term? Why doesn’t the Liberal media ask these questions? I think I know the answer to my last question.
Let me see if I got this straight. The White House communicates (Rove to Gonzales) who the 8 prosecutors who are not being partisan enough (either by going after Republicans or not going after Dems) and Gonzales collects their resignations. Gonzo lies to Congress about the reasons for the dismisals & about the WH link..
Now Bush is accusing Dems of being partisan by insisting on sworn testimony, because the overly-sensative Dems got their feelings hurt by Gonzo’s lies, that same testimony will be criminal perjury if it’s done under oath. As a gesture of bipartisanship, Congress is supposed to let these people lie under conditions that guarantee there can be no repurcussions.
I am ready to see this before the Supreme Court.
Lets get ready to RRRRRRRrrrrruuuuummmmmblllllllle!!!!
Why did the White House even bother. Those restrictions are a joke and a slap in the face to every Senator.
I kind of like it that the latest [Rasmussen] poll just gave a message to the Democrats that Congressional approval dropped to 28% in the past few weeks……speculation being that the voters were expecting the majority party of Dems to counter Bush on the Iraq fiasco and haven’t yet done so.
This DOJ issue will give the Dems some practice bouting with the Decider.
“We will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants,”
That’s what we want to find out.If they really are public servants. I know off hand that two ( Rove, Miers) aren’t public servants. And forget about honorable…just reading about the underhanded way the firings were orchestrated blows that concept away.
I liked the e-mail subject line from one of the fired prosecutors titled —Happy Trails. It’s the right attitude to have. It reminds me of the song from the late 60’s called the snake, with it’s punch line.. “you knew I was a snake before you took me in”.
http://uncledad.org/blog/
What ever happened to radio.indymedia.org. What happened to free speech.
Maha,
Will you with your website ask: What happened to radio.indymedia.org?