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’
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…
Filed under: Current Politics | Tagged: Alberto Gonzales, Brad Friedman, Bush impeachment, Don Siegelman, fired U.S. attorneys scandal, John Conyers, Judiciary Committee, Justice Department, Justice Department politicization, Karl Rove, Nancy Pelosi, The Brad Blog | 22 Comments »
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