Another Reason to be a “Disaffected Democrat”: Pelosi Letting KARL ROVE off the Hook as Time Runs Out on This Congressional Session (Add This to “Impeachment off the Table”)

With the targeted House recess date fast approaching (September 26) time is running out on any chance of putting the screws on Karl Rove.

As you may recall then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Karl Rove were implicated in the firing of 8 U.S. Attorneys for political reasons…most for either going after Republicans or for not going after Democrats.

Don Siegelman was a high-profile Democrat targeted as part of the Gonzales-Rove operation.  He was re-elected as governor of Alabama only to have the results “stolen.”  Siegelman, who had been targeted for years, was then imprisoned for 9 months on a conviction of bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud.  Siegelman is currently out of jail on appeal and is trying to raise money for his legal defense fund. All the details of this case are at the “Free Don Siegelman” site which includes a video of the “60 Minutes” report that provides a good overview of how Siegelman was targeted.

Meanwhile…

Karl Rove has blown off a subpoena and could get away scott free if the full House doesn’t vote on the contempt citation passed by the House Judiciary Committee before this Congressional session is over. In my recap of last week, I mentioned how Siegelman was at the Democratic Convention trying to get support from House members for a vote.   And guess who might let him get away?

In an interview from the Convention with Brad Friedman of the Brad Blog Siegelman made these comments:

On Rove: “If we do not vote the contempt citation, Karl Rove is simply going to get in his getaway car and thumb his nose at the Constitution, Congress, and the American people. It creates almost two systems of justice: one for the powerful, those connected to the White House, and then another system for you and me and the rest of the people.”

On Democrats: “Democrats are so magnanimous in victory, as they were after Watergate, they did nothing. After the Iran-Contra scandal, they did nothing. But what Democrats are going to want to do is get on with positive programs, to fix the damage that has been done by the Bush administration…But I view this as part of that positive change. Finding out who hijacked the Department of Justice and who used it as a political weapon.”

On his ‘stolen’ 2002 election: “I went to bed the winner. The media had been sent home. The poll-workers had been sent home. The party chairmen had been given their copies of the election results. And then after midnight a light went on in the basement of the capitol, the basement of the courthouse, in the sheriff’s office, and 5,200 votes that were mine were shifted to my opponent.”

(Link to video at the Siegelman site; Link to video and transcript at Hot Potato Mash)

So what’s up with the House?

On August 8, John Conyers held another Judiciary Committee hearing on the fired attorneys investigation.

Then, he postponed a hearing on 2008 election voting preparations scheduled for yesterday, September 9:

**POSTPONED** – Hearing on: Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice Preparation for the 2008 Election- **POSTPONED**

Tuesday 09/09/2008 – 9:30 AM

But, so far, there’s nothing to suggest that a full House vote on the contempt citation issued against Rove will take place.  It sure doesn’t look there’s going to be much action by the Democrats on anything that will rock the boat during the last 2 weeks of this Congressional session!

But why be surprised?  Who can forget the decision to take the impeachment of George Bush off the table  immediately after the Democrats took control of the House after the 2006 election? From the New York Times, November 8, 2006:

Pelosi: Bush Impeachment `Off the Table’

Published: November 8, 2006

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi promised Wednesday that when her party takes over, the new majority will not attempt to remove President Bush from office, despite earlier pledges to the contrary from others in the caucus.

“I have said it before and I will say it again: Impeachment is off the table,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said during a news conference.

Pelosi also said Democrats, despite complaining about years of unfair treatment by the majority GOP, “are not about getting even” with Republicans.

She said the GOP, which frequently excluded Democrats from conference committee hearings and often blocked attempts to introduce amendments, would not suffer similar treatment.

“Democrats pledge civility and bipartisanship in the conduct of the work here and we pledge partnerships with Congress and the Republicans in Congress, and the president — not partisanship.”

Nine months later, in August 2007 at a townhall meeting in his district, Conyers was “challenging” Pelosi on the matter…sort of. As reported by Raw Story (with video):

Rep. John Conyers declared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could not stop him from beginning impeachment proceedings in the House Judiciary Committee against a ‘long list of people’in the Bush administration, although he did not make a firm commitment to begin proceedings.

And what was the hang up?

He told the activists he would not begin impeachment hearings because there is not enough support among Democrats, who control the House, for the move.

Gee, those House Democrats, under the “leadership” of Nancy Pelosi, really don’t like to muss up anybody’s hair, do they?  Imagine…Karl Rove being allowed to just slip away…There he is, on TV and contributing to Newsweek, without a care in the world because of the flaccid “bipartisanship” of Nancy Pelosi and company.

Just another example of how utterly useless the Democratic Party has become…

22 Responses

  1. Pelosi and the Democratic majority that were given a clear and unambiguous task in the 2006 elections have been not only a disappointment but a disgrace. They were to end the war. IMHO they didn’t because a. the big bad Republicans might say something nasty about them and b. they wanted to use the war as a rallying point in the presidential elections.

    The Siegelman case is just one more proof in a long line of incidences where the Democrats DO NOT fight for or protect their own. Why on earth should any thinking individual believe such gutless critters would fight for or protect us?

  2. Remember how thrilled we were when Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House?

    How could we have been so blind? The Democratic party went off the rails long before Barack Obama was anointed.

  3. yes this sickness has been festering in our party for quite a while longer than any of us would like to admit. It really hurts to see this in the party i have always held in such high esteem.

    They have become everthing they hate. lying, cheating, smearing, hypocrites who have no standarsd, no back bone or loyalty to anything but the power they desperately crave.

    CQ

  4. Ooops! Standards

    CQ

  5. “They have become everything they hate. lying, cheating, smearing, hypocrites who have no standards, no back bone or loyalty to anything but the power they desperately crave.”

    No, they have become everything WE hate. They have become exactly what THEY wanted to be. Rich and powerful. And by powerful, I mean able to enter office with a clear and pressing mandate from the American people, and the immediately ignore it and laugh at us. They have the lowest rating of any Congress ever, yet there is no public outcry for their removal (how odd is that?). Pelosi herself is a bought-and-paid for Representative that got where she is with Daddy’s money, and is beholden to him and his special interests (which are quite well connected to Rove and Co, so no surprise she’s protecting him just like she protected Bush and Cheney).

    Don’t fool yourselves here, folks. This whole sham is a premeditated plot by both parties to manipulate the American system and make it impotent. Their goal is to take away our right to vote (or at least the right to have the vote matter) so that they can control the massive tax income of the richest nation in the world. The Republicans have already started a war without consent of America or the world, and Obama has hinted strongly and repeatedly that he wants to start one with Pakistan. The Republicans have spent every dime we’ll make for the next generation and more, and Obama will raise taxes and entitlement spending even more if elected. Neither party is willing to protect your privacy or right, and voices that cry foul are silenced publicly and brutally (Hillary Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro, PUMA, Sarah Palin) or minimalized (Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, et al).

    The advertising agencies figured out the way to manipulate us into buying things we don’t need or even want years ago, and the political machine (let’s face it, there’s a very small group of individuals running both parties) have just started to use the same strategy to push our buttons for their financial gain (look at the record numbers of this year’s fundraising) and political gain (both sides have armies of unwitting volunteers and a cadre of seasoned handlers ready to quelch an uprising or the wrong person getting elected at a moment’s notice).

    So what’s the answer? WE ARE. We have to stop looking to politicians (Hillary is a great woman and more than ready for the Presidency, but look what happened to her) to change things for us. It will never happen – it’s against their own self interests to do so. So we must stay angry, stay motivated, and keep our goal within sight at all times. They are counting on groups like PUMA and Just Say No Deal to crumble after the election (let’s face it, they though we’d die after Hillary dropped out), but we must stay strong and focused. And we must use our votes and make sure they are counted.

    The time has come for a viable third political party in the US, and the time has come for us to police our own elections. Public campaign financing must become mandatory and limited (do we really need people spending $84 million to tell us what to think?) and we must demand term limits on all federal offices. The main reason these people can become powerful is because we keep sending them back. If they only had 2 terms to accomplish anything, perhaps they might try to do something once they got into office besides jockeying for the best committee spots, fundraising, and running for re-election. If it’s good enough for POTUS, why should the Senate or House be any different? And finally, we need an independent, non-partisan Federal Election Commission. I believe these people should be elected in national elections and not be beholden to Congress in any way, shape or form. Until we the people demand these things and make them happen, we will continued to be played, and people like Karl Rove, George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney will continue to commit crimes against the Republic and get off scot free.

  6. Green Party for accountability.

  7. Grail Guardian, on September 10th, 2008 at 10:18 am

    Dead. Nuts. Perfect.

  8. Grail Gaurdian all I can say is WOW! You said it quite well!

    CQ

  9. Great rant Grail Guardian! It’s what so many of us are feeling. We ain’t grieving, we’re outraged!

  10. kudos Grail Guardian!

    Have you read anything by Lyndon LaRouche’s PAC? It expounds upon what you are saying and lays the nexis of the dismantling of our federal government as we know it at George Soros’s feet!

    I don’t want to include the link w/o Kenosha Marge’s consent.

    Thanks KM for bringing up Siegelman’s fight to us. He has gotten screwed on all sides, just because he wants to represent his state! WTF? Maybe he wasn’t Soros approved?

  11. Note: kenosha Marge is not the author of this article. It was written by InsightAnalytica-GRL.

  12. Grail Guardian ~ there are no more ways to tell you how good that was to read !

    And ea ~
    thank you for the link to the Green Party.

  13. Why can’t we as voters get a an Amendment on the ballot to give them a pay cut? and the only way for them to get a pay increase is by voter approval? And use the difference towards paying off the budget they have all pushed through the ceiling.

    personally, I think it’s an audacity that they have the power to vote themselves a pay increase. I can’t just give myself a pay raise without My employer approving it, I’d be thrown in jail for embezzelment, so why do they have the power to do so?

  14. B –

    “Why can’t we as voters get a an Amendment on the ballot to give them a pay cut? ”

    Answer: because who introduces Amendments? Congress.

    Now here’s a thought; imagine Sarah Palin as President of the Senate, with Hillary as Majority Leader. That might be our only chance to get such legislation introduced. But it will not work if Nancy Pelosi remains as Speaker of the House. She will block any legislation to end the war, cut taxes, or introduce election reform. She needs to go, and NOW.

  15. Is there any chance, however remote, that we might get rid of Pelosi on the next round?

  16. insightanalytical, on September 10th, 2008 at 7:13 pm Said:

    Note: kenosha Marge is not the author of this article. It was written by InsightAnalytica-GRL.

    *****
    I AM SO SORRY FOR THAT BLUNDER! I was trying to address something KM said and your article Insight Analytical simultaneously. My editing skills really took a nosedive on that one.

    Please forgive 😦

  17. Marge,

    I’ve been watching your post on 9-11 since it went up this morning. It’s fascinating that there are no comments. I don’t think this reflects the fact that people have nothing to say. They just can’t come up with anything salient to add to your picture.

    The picture says it all.

  18. Pelosi is just about the biggest phony in the Democratic party.

  19. Creeper, thanks but the picture was put up by GRL the owner of this blog who is kind enough to allow me to post occasionally.

    I’ve thought about commenting a couple of times but can’t find anything to say that isn’t said by GRL’s wonderful picture, as you said above.

  20. Sorry for the confusion. I thought you had a blog.

    Thank you, GRL, for a picture to tug at the heartstrings.

  21. No problem with any confusion….we’re all in this together…GRL

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