Back to their old tricks

Having found that they really have no interest in actually doing anything to address any topic of substance, the Democrats are back to what they do best: grandstanding and making a political show for the cameras. This time they (once again) are trying to charge Joshua Bolton and Harriet Miers with Contempt of Congress.

Representative John Conyers of Michigan, who heads the Congressional Judiciary Committee, is trying to avoid taking this to court. "I very much hope that we can similarly avoid a constitutional confrontation in this case," Conyers said. The reason, of course, is that a Constitutional challenge will clearly be lost by Congress.

Congress has no power to charge crimes or compel testimony. The only power they have regarding criminal behavior is impeachment.

What's particularly galling about this situation is that no one is even suggesting that anything illegal has taken place. There are only suspicions that something untoward - but perfectly legal - took place. The hope here is for John Conyers to put people close to the President under oath and desperately hope that they perjure themselves. Making the Administration look bad, of course, is more important than trying to renew S-CHIP or make sure our troops in Iraq are funded or fixing Social Security or coming up with a market-based solution to the health care problem that could draw bipartisan support.

House Democrats Push Bush on Subpoenas
House Judiciary Panel Head Tells White House to Answer Subpoenas to Presidential Aides
ABC News

House Democrats threatened Monday to hold President Bush's key confidants in contempt of Congress unless they comply with subpoenas for information on the Justice Department's purge of federal prosecutors last winter.

The White House shrugged off the ultimatum, saying the information is off-limits under executive privilege and that the aides in question White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolton and former presidential counselor Harriet Miers are immune from prosecution.

"It won't go anywhere," predicted White House press secretary Dana Perino.

Congressional Democrats nonetheless submitted their 102-page report, and a Republican rebuttal, to the House clerk on Monday afternoon. The report accused Miers of contempt for failing to appear and testify as subpoenaed. She and Bolton were charged with failing to produce documents on whether the prosecutors were fired at the White House's behest.