Checking and Balancing

Sad proof that some Republicans are scared of the 39% approval rating President and his hired goon Karl...

NY Times: Senate Panel Decides Against Eavesdropping Inquiry, for Now

The Senate Intelligence Committee decided today not to investigate President Bush's domestic surveillance program, at least for the time being...

...Mr. Roberts said "an agreement in principle" had been reached with the administration whereby lawmakers would be given more information on the surveillance operation run by the National Security Agency...

Yes, you read that right. A few Senate Republicans in that Committee are willing to give the President a pass on illegal actions and potential Constitutional violations (and help make it easier for him to do so) if they just promise (pretty please!) to be a little more open with them on what he is up to. Hey Senator Roberts, we have this thing here in America called "separation of powers" and "checks and balances", meaning the very fact that you have to ask and make lop-sided bargains with the White House to get them to fulfill their legal duties shows that we have a problem.

This is the problem with one-party government. No self-respecting conservative would be so okay, let alone eager, with such an increasingly imperial President. It goes against their core beliefs (of course, so does much of what Bush does). But it is a Republican President and is an election year, so they comply. If there was a Democrat in the White House, we'd have multiple investigations, a special prosecutor, and real impeachment buzz by now. Forget Jack Abramoff, this is the real corruption of Congress- corruption of basic Constitutional principles.

At least we have still have the Senate Judiciary Committee's ongoing hearings, because as reported in the Washington Post yesterday, Sen. Specter still intends to call former Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and former Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey to testify (despite objections from Alberto Gonzales). Specter plans to inquire about the legal issues in the case, including objections made by Comey and others who warned the White House their program was illegal. Stay tuned for more on that.

The Times article also states-

While Mr. Roberts's announcement signaled that the administration's eavesdropping program would not be subject to Senate scrutiny, at least for the time being, there was no guarantee that the House would not go ahead with an inquiry of its own.

Well bad news for that spineless royal servant Pat Roberts, because...

NY Times: Accord in House to Hold Inquiry on Surveillance

Leaders of the House Intelligence Committee said Thursday that they had agreed to open a Congressional inquiry prompted by the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program. But a dispute immediately broke out among committee Republicans over the scope of the inquiry.

Representative Heather A. Wilson, the New Mexico Republican and committee member who called last week for the investigation, said the review "will have multiple avenues, because we want to completely understand the program and move forward."

So this issue is not over yet.

The Times article also states that "For weeks, the Bush administration has been strongly resisting calls from Democrats and some Republicans for a full review into the National Security Agency's surveillance program". Glenn Greenwald notes that this strong effort to fight inquiries (including political threats from Karl Rove and strongarming from Vice President Cheney) contradicts their assertion that they welcome the debate because it will benefit them politically. They claim that somehow this scandal will be a "winner" for them. Yet, as he notes, "they are doing everything they can to kill the scandal and make it go away. Isn't it obvious that they fear the scandal and realize it has the potential to do great harm? Why else would they be trying to suppress these investigations? Is Karl Rove's childish bravado really that blinding that it can erase basic logic?".

The White House knows they have done something wrong; they know they are in trouble here. A new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows that the majority now believe that Bush broke the law by authorizing warrantless wiretaps. But they cannot act like they have have done anything wrong. So they stand tough, asserting that they had the legal authority the whole time and that this scandal will once again prove what tough guys they are.

That remains to be seen, but it's clear their efforts to kill this story is meeting genuine resistance.