Wednesday, July 25, 2007

House Judiciary Approves Censure Motion

In a strict party-line vote, the House Judiciary Committee passed a resolution recommending contempt of Congress charges for Harriet Meiers, President Bush's former White House Counsel, and Joshua Bolten, White House Chief of Staff.

Christy Hardin Smith live blogged the hearings this morning. Reading them, I'm appalled at the transparent idiocy of the Republicans' excuses for not supporting this measure. Meiers refused to show up for a hearing when she was subpoenaed. Who has done that before and gotten away with it? Do they really want to make the Congress an inconsequential branch of government? I suppose if you looked at their work habits during the 109th Congress, you'd realize that was a stupid question. Of course they do.

I wonder what it's going to take to get the Republicans to do what's right for their country. In the end, I think it will hurt their party more to be seen as obstructing an important investigation, which is what they are doing here. That they're doing it for an arrogant and foolish President with an approval rating in the mid twenties makes this move positively suicidal.

UPDATE: Jane Hamsher sums up the HJC hearings today quite eloquently:

The moebius strip logic of the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee is astonishing.

We haven’t found any evidence of wrongdoing therefore we should not investigate. Of course we can’t investigate because witnesses are refusing to cooperate, but because Carol Lam doesn’t have evidence to prove she was the victim of a crime we need to stop right now.

Also, we despise Bill Clinton and revile everything he has ever done but he is nonetheless the bar we establish for acceptable behavior from the administration.

You have to be sucking hard for oxygen in a vapor lock for an awfully long time in order for this to make any sense.

Breathtaking GOP Mendacity in the House Judiciary Today

It appears that a considerable portion of America is short on oxygen, and the worst oxygen deficit appears to be located in Washington, DC.

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