As Mike Whitney wrote yesterday in Counterpunch, it’s pretty clear that Rove is behind the firing of the “Gonzales 8”: no one in the Justice Department had a motive for that, but it fits in perfectly with Rove’s program to turn America into a one-party state.
Today, the White House has offered for Rove and others to testify before the House Judiciary Committee.
“Such interviews would be private and conducted without the need for an oath, transcript, subsequent testimony, or the subsequent issuance of subpoenas,” [White House counsel] Fielding said in a letter to the chairman of the House and Senate judiciary committees. (CNN)
This is good. This shows that the White House is negotiating from a position of weakness. I think they made a mistake here: they should have treated the principle of executive privelege as absolute, and so not offered for Rove to testify under any circumstances. Now the issue should be: if executive privilege does not prevent Rove from testifying, why can’t he do so under oath? Dems must insist upon this. Otherwise the whole exercise is pointless.
Democratic leaders have consistently shown that they are no match for their Republican counterparts. Whenever an opportunity presents itself to swoop down for the kill; congressional Democrats start preening for the cameras or bloviating on the floor of the House.
That’s not how you get things done in Washington. If the Democrats are serious about ruling, they ought to bring a sledgehammer to work and start pounding away at the obstacles.
The firing of the “Gonzales 8” is a perfect opportunity to zero-in on the Justice Department and start tossing bodies on the burn pile. But it’ll take someone with enough brains to figure out what’s really going on and big enough cahones to go for the jugular. That’s how a predator brings down the live-game and that’s what it’ll take to rout the mob bosses at the D.O.J. Anyone who gets squeamish over a little political blood-letting should probably get a job in retail–not government.
Gonzales is already on his last legs. He signed his own death warrant by his ham-fisted treatment of the US Attorneys. The firings have turned out to be big trouble for Team Bush. Gonzales has hung a giant Bull’s Eye on the administration’s back and then pushed them in front of the firing squad.All the Democrats have to do is take aim and blast away.
But are they up to it?
The firing of the Attorney’s appears to be one of those careless slip-ups that happen when men are blinded by hubris. Rove and Gonzales knew that their actions would start a political firestorm, but decided to go ahead anyway. Now they’re getting pummeled from all sides and someone will have to be thrown to the wolves. The question is: Who?…
The only one who had a motive was Karl Rove. Rove’s job is to build a permanent Republican majority and smash the Democratic Party in the process. If that means replacing principled conservatives in the US Attorneys Office with Bush loyalists; then, so be it…
The purge of the US Attorneys has Rove’s bloody fingerprints all over it. Justice doesn’t matter. Law enforcement doesn’t matter. All that matters is destroying one’s enemies, rewarding one’s friends, and strengthening the one party system. That’s it. It’s even better if the friends are crooks. That just makes them easier to control.
The Democrats need to realize that the Bush administration’s success relies heavily on key players who are indispensable to the smooth operation of the political machine. Rove is the main gear in the state apparatus. He is the brain-trust for Bush’s oligarchy of racketeers.
Taking down Rove should be the Democrats’ top priority. Ousting Miers or Gonzales achieves nothing. It is a waste of time. If you’re gonna beat Bush, you gotta go after Rove.
That means issuing subpoenas, building a case, marching Rove to the dock, and grilling him until he cracks.
Anything else is bound to fail. (Rove in the Dock)
So far it seems that Dems might follow through on this. Here is how they responded to the White House’s offer:
Not very happy with the offer, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called it a “very clever proposal,” and said that it will be considered by the Congressional committee leaders. Democrats have been calling for on-the-record testimony by Rove, Miers and others, and the Senate may issue its own subpoenas.
“We’ll proceed with subpoenas on Thursday,” Schumer told MSNBC.
According to a CNN correspondent, a number of Democrats were unsatisfied with the White House proposal, but at least one Republican lawmaker thought that it would suffice. (Raw Story)