House moves forward with Miers/Bolten contempt charges

mindseye

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The Speaker of the House instructed Attorney General Michael Mukasey today to proceed with contempt charges for both Joshua Bolten and Harriet Miers, who failed to respond to subpoenas in late 2007.

Members of Congress are finally standing up, if a bit meekly, on FISA and the PAA, and now on these contempt citations; where were these cojones last year?
 

jason_els

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Too little too late and by design. By the time any sort of trial comes around Bush will be gone and it will all be swept under the carpet in the guise of, "...it's time to heal... let's look forward, not backward... etc. etc." Congress has no desire to enforce anything. They got Bush to back all the spending they wanted so long as they turned a blind eye to everything he and his cronies were doing despite the changeover of congress which sent a clear message that the people were fed-up. Pelosi has no balls at all. She travels, improves the menu in the congressional lunch room, and buys flowers. The rest of congress isn't all that interested either. They know people are fickle, won't care once a new president is in office, and hey, they got to bring home the bacon.

Do not operate under the fallacy that the leadership of congress gives a damn about the rule of the constitution or US code or anything else. They care about themselves, their power, and the money. Bush has thumbed his nose at congress and the constitution since the day he came into office. Eight years have passed, including a change of power in congress, and still nothing is done but a few wrist slaps and the prosecution of underlings who are more than ready to take a bullet for their master. The US federal government is corrupt and indifferent to the laws which are supposed to frame it. What are we going to do? Get out of our La-Z-Boy recliners and protest (in free-speech zones of course)? Hell no! We're fat and lazy. So long as we have our bread and circuses the government can do what it wants even if it's openly illegal.
 

VeeP

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Members of Congress are finally standing up, if a bit meekly, on FISA and the PAA, and now on these contempt citations; where were these cojones last year?
Easy one. It's an election year, so they need to make headlines.
 

jason_els

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As expected, Mukasey is refusing to comply. (At the time of posting, there is an error in the article: the third "Mukasey" in the article should read "Miers". I suspect the AP will correct it soon.)

edit: Speaker Pelosi responds.

Your link is borked.

She's threatening a civil suit?? Typical.:rolleyes:

Congress should be talking about removing Mukasey (and a whole bunch of others) from office, not trivialities like civil suits. Proof again that Pelosi has no balls what-so-ever. I hope to heaven the people of San Francisco kick her ass out on the curb.
 

mindseye

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Fixed the link; thanks for letting me know.

Congress should be talking about removing Mukasey (and a whole bunch of others) from office, not trivialities like civil suits. Proof again that Pelosi has no balls what-so-ever.

A civil suit in federal court is a sensible next step. Impeachment is a time-consuming process for the House, and would require a 2/3 confirmation vote by the Senate, which isn't going to happen. As "trivial" as a federal suit is, it's probably her most productive option.

Except, possibly, to use the inherent contempt powers of the House of Representatives to try the case themselves. This might produce a conviction for Bolten and Miers. However, the House hasn't used its inherent contempt powers since the Civil War, and to do so now is likely to overshadow the presidential race in the news and alienate moderate voters. To me, that's a pretty risky proposition.
 

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The Speaker of the House instructed Attorney General Michael Mukasey today to proceed with contempt charges for both Joshua Bolten and Harriet Miers, who failed to respond to subpoenas in late 2007.

Members of Congress are finally standing up, if a bit meekly, on FISA and the PAA, and now on these contempt citations; where were these cojones last year?

Laughable.... this is like going after presidents for pardons... firings of attorney generals always happens, always will.

This is what I see more and more... you can't bust someone on a flimsy charge, but charge them anyways and waste our taxpayer money, ... then find the perjury or obstruction of justice during the whole process, and bust them there. Saw it with steroids too...
 

jason_els

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Fixed the link; thanks for letting me know.

A civil suit in federal court is a sensible next step. Impeachment is a time-consuming process for the House, and would require a 2/3 confirmation vote by the Senate, which isn't going to happen. As "trivial" as a federal suit is, it's probably her most productive option.

Except, possibly, to use the inherent contempt powers of the House of Representatives to try the case themselves. This might produce a conviction for Bolten and Miers. However, the House hasn't used its inherent contempt powers since the Civil War, and to do so now is likely to overshadow the presidential race in the news and alienate moderate voters. To me, that's a pretty risky proposition.

That's what I was thinking of. Have a House trial. As has been said, impeachment is a political process but it does bolster the fact that the House is the ultimate court in the land. Pelosi should flex her muscles even if it is for a lost cause. The White House needs to be reminded of what branch is the final arbiter of the will of the people.
 

mindseye

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That's what I was thinking of. Have a House trial. As has been said, impeachment is a political process but it does bolster the fact that the House is the ultimate court in the land. Pelosi should flex her muscles even if it is for a lost cause. The White House needs to be reminded of what branch is the final arbiter of the will of the people.

I'll confess -- I wish they had flexed their muscles last year. It was embarrassing watching the House roll over and over again, for example, when they agreed to remove non-freakin'-binding withdrawal timetables from their Iraq funding bill.

Having waited this long, though, I'm glad that she's not trying to do something explosive and attention-grabbing now that the country's focus is moving on to the presidential race. For her to do so now would put important swing states into play over such small potatoes as Bolten and Miers.

In other words, I think their window of opportunity has passed for decisive action, and I'm satisfied that the course of action she's pursuing now is the best of her remaining options.
 

musclekid

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seems like a pointless stunt to me. what exactly is the crime? from what i've read about it, just because some House SUBcommittee asks for documents, doesn't mean they are entitled to get them. there are a lot of other laws that come into play. this goes right up there with the baseball stuff going on right now. why don't these politicians spend some time solving some REAL problems?
 

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Does anyone seriously expect this to be anything but empty political theatre masterminded by the "most powerful woman in America" :rolleyes: Their time to act and serve as actual counter check for Bush's policies has long passed. Now she is going to engineer theatrical performances in the hopes that she still gets to be speaker come January.