"Wade in the water ...
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the ater ...
God is gonna trouble the water..."
Here we go. Four members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked the solicitor general of the United States to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate possible -- if you want to call it that -- perjury by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in the illegal NSA warrantless wiretapping probe, in the wake of the latest bombshell: the FBI director's testimoney directly contradicting Gonzales' sworn statements. From the National Journal:
The senators -- Charles Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, Russ Feingold and Sheldon Whitehouse -- are also members of the Judiciary Committee. In testimony esterday before the committee, Gonzales contradicted his own earlier sworn accounts, along with those of other witnesses in the probe.
And despite his blistering cross-examination of Gonzales at yesterday's hearing, ranking Judiciary Committee member Sen. Arlen Specter returned to form today. Apparently he was traveling with the president, and so perhaps this particular Specterism has more to do with fear of your dinner partners than genuine moral outrage. The Journal continues:
In a press conference this afternoon, ranking Republican Arlen Specter railed against the request, and indicated that Chairman Leahy was not on board, either.
"I think that Senator Schumer has made a practice of politicizing this matter," Specter told reporters. "Senator Schumer's not interested in looking at the record. He's interested in throwing down the gauntlet and making a story in tomorrow's newspapers."
Specter has previously accused Schumer of having a conflict of interest in the firings probe, because the New York Democrat is also head of the DSCC, the Senate's campaign fundraising arm.
Specter has backed congressional subpoenas of administration officials, and drew a distinction with the prosecutor request. "The inspector general generally does not conduct investigations with a view to a prosecution. The inspector general conducts investigation with a view to improprieties and recommendations for changes in policy," Specter said. "I think there's a little bit of Don Quixote here. People are riding off in all different directions at once." Whatever, man.
Meanwhile, the Leahy committee has also subpoenaed Karl Rove, the president's increasingly addled brain, in the U.S. attorney firings scandal. Expect that to be the next "executive privilege" showdown in D.C. ...
Drip ... drip ... drip ... how long can the house of cards that is the Bush administration continue to stand? Haven't we had enough yet?
Labels: Alberto Gonzales, Bush administration, NSA, warrantless wiretaps, worst president ever |
