Bernstein: Senate Hearings on Bush, Now

Carl Bernstein pens a lengthy article in the new Vanity Fair on the immediate need for "bipartisan hearings investigating the Bush presidency". This, along with Ron Reagan's Esquire article before the '04 election and the recent Harpers article, ranks as one of the must-read articles on this presidency...

Key excerpts-

...In terms of imminent, meaningful action by the Congress, however, the question of whether the president should be impeached (or, less severely, censured) remains premature. More important, it is essential that the Senate vote—hopefully before the November elections, and with overwhelming support from both parties—to undertake a full investigation of the conduct of the presidency of George W. Bush, along the lines of the Senate Watergate Committee's investigation during the presidency of Richard M. Nixon...

...After Nixon's resignation, it was often said that the system had worked. Confronted by an aberrant president, the checks and balances on the executive by the legislative and judicial branches of government, and by a free press, had functioned as the founders had envisioned.

The system has thus far failed during the presidency of George W. Bush—at incalculable cost in human lives, to the American political system, to undertaking an intelligent and effective war against terror, and to the standing of the United States in parts of the world where it previously had been held in the highest regard...

He's right.

But the elephant in the room, pun intended, is that the system is failing because George Bush controls all aspects of our country's government- the Executive branch (with even traditionally nonpartisan outlets as the Justice Department mere outlets of his office), the Congress, a majority of the Supreme Court- and has a complicit media too scared of bias accusations to ask the right questions. Even with record low approval ratings, this President has maintained his airtight grip on our government, choking off the constitutional checks and balances that could see him held to account for his actions. Until one of those things shifts (as the House and/or Senate may this Fall), there will be no check on this Presidency and the system will continue to fail us.

This is why the Fall election is so important and why the White House is so active in trying to influence its outcome.

Expect a lot of desperate tactics (and maybe an October surprise or two) as it approaches...