DOA is an acronym which stands for Dead on Arrival. And apparently that is the current status of the Congressional contempt citations for which we’ve been waiting against former White House counsel, Harriet Miers, and White House Chief of Staff, Josh Bolten, officials who ignored lawfully issued subpoenas in the US Attorney’s scandal, thanks apparently to our Democratic leaders in the House (courtesy TPMmuckracker):
“The scandal at the Department of Justice has gone on long enough,” said Rep. Rahm Emmanuel (D-IL) back in March. “Careers have been destroyed and legitimate public corruption cases have been derailed. It is time for accountability — it is time for the truth.”
Six months and several Department senior resignations later, it’s a different time. The urgency is gone.
More than two months after the House Judiciary Committee passed contempt resolutions against White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers for ignoring committee subpoenas, it’s still unclear when, or if, Democrats will hold a vote on the full floor.
The leadership has indefinitely delayed taking up the issue. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) told The Politico last month, “I don’t think anything is going to happen on that for a while,” and couldn’t offer a range. Three weeks later, that hasn’t changed.
And apparently scheduling concerns are not all that’s at issue. A source familiar with the ongoing discussions told TPMmuckraker that getting the leadership to bring the contempt resolutions to the floor at all is an “uphill struggle.” […]
The issue, Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) has argued, goes right to the heart of Congress’ oversight prerogatives. After Miers didn’t even show up to claim executive privilege, Conyers asked, “Are Congressional subpoenas to be honored or are they optional?… If we do not enforce this subpoena, no one will ever have to come before the House Judiciary Committee again.”
Oh, they can hold a vote condemning Moveon’s exercise of it’s free speech rights (and get it to the floor in record time). That’s easy. But actually schedule a vote on contempt of Congress by Bush administration officials whose actions have deliberately obstructed a congressional investigation into the improper and potentially unlawful firing of US Attorneys by the Bush administration, the suborning of the Department of Justice into just another arm of the Republican Party’s voter suppression efforts by forcing US Attorneys’ to bring phony charges of voter fraud against Democrats, and allegations of potential White House meddling in prosecutions of corruption by Republican lobbyists and lawmakers in an election year? That’s an “uphill struggle.” Then again, getting the Democrats to use their political capital to actually oppose Congressional Republicans and/or the White House on anything seems like an uphill struggle most days.
Explain to me why I voted for these clowns in 2006. Better yet, tell me again why I should vote for these clowns in 2008? One thing for certain, it can’t be because they intend to do the people’s business and hold the Bush administration accountable for its execrable record of gross mismanagement, deliberate malfeasance and potentially criminal misdeeds. They’ve already gone missing in action when it comes to that fulfilling that responsibility.
