Sounds good. I don't think we've quite got their attention yet. An arrest and imprisonment works.
Posted by Slothrop at May 19, 2007 07:08 PMI do not understand why the judiciary committee can not seize the RNC servers to extract information.
Posted by Bill at May 19, 2007 08:16 PMWell another impeachable offence by this administration. All Republicans that still are support them should be voted out of office. It is not that I am crazy about our yellow democrats! They are not much better we should start a call for a 3 term limit for all. I also want 6 months run for any office. This is ridiculous to have 2 years for president!!!!
Does anyone explain while the Repubs were in control they only needed 51 votes while the Democrats have to have 60???? All the bills that were passed under those republicans were so bad that we are paying and will be for years.
Do you want impeachment start? I have sign once for all. Here is the Cheney’s
The Pen: democracy@peaceteam.net
Another person who care and does not want 20 month’s of this fail administration. Do you?
Not to mention the fact that they were attempting to create a false document, something which happens to be against the law. Ashcroft wasn't legally the AG at this point in time. The document had to have been back-dated a few days, to before the time that Ashcroft became ill, in order for Aschcroft's signature to appear valid.
I also wonder about whether the conversation about this issue to which Comey and Ashcroft referred might have had something to do with the president ordering the AG to do something which was against the law. It would exlpian Ashcroft's "resolve" during this bizarre episode.
Posted by urizon at May 19, 2007 08:48 PMurizon, I think there are two pieces to the puzzle. First of all, I think that Ashcroft had been deliberately kept out of the loop as John Yoo worked directly with Addington and Cheney's office to create the legal fiction that all was kosher with the program. The Time article from last year had the following:
In the summer of 2003, Yoo, who stands by his body of work, left the Justice Department and returned to teaching law. His departure came in the midst of a critical power struggle. Addington and Gonzales had both wanted to make Yoo head of the OLC when Bybee went off to take a federal judgeship in March 2003, but Attorney General John Ashcroft balked. Ashcroft's reasons were apparently bureaucratic. (He declined to speak for this story.) According to colleagues, he resented Yoo's going behind his back to give the White House a private pipeline into the OLC. Yoo denied circumventing Ashcroft. "OLC kept the attorney general or his staff fully informed of all of its work in the war on terrorism," he said.
Comey's testimony indicates that once they (Goldstein, Comey) found out what was going on he shared it with the AG.
And a week before that March 11th deadline, I had a private meeting with the attorney general for an hour, just the two of us, and I laid out for him what we had learned and what our analysis was in this particular matter....And at the end of that hour-long private session, he and I agreed on a course of action.
Ashcroft's personal failure was to have signed off on the legality of the program before then without having ever understood what it was.
Posted by Mary at May 19, 2007 09:07 PMThe Time article from last year
Correction - it was a Newsweek article from last year.
Posted by Mary at May 19, 2007 09:20 PMCan we go after them once they're out of office?
Posted by Palolo lolo at May 20, 2007 01:29 AMWhat I want to know is what precedents have been set for future presidents?
Posted by Judith at May 20, 2007 03:11 AMSunday Roundup A. Huffington
We can add two more Bush administration names to the rapidly-expanding "coulda, woulda, shoulda, but ultimately didn't resign in indignation" list: John Ashcroft and Robert Mueller. During this week's creepy testimony from former Deputy Attorney General James Comey about how Alberto Gonzales and Andy Card made a late night visit to the hospital room of a critically ill Ashcroft to pressure him to sign-off on the renewal of the NSA spy program, came the news that Ashcroft was so uncomfortable with the program he considered resigning. But didn't. According to Comey, Top G-Man Mueller also considered resigning over the domestic surveillance program. But didn't. If only doing the right thing had the same lure as $400,000, the resignation bonus that finally got Paul Wolfowitz to call it quits.
Mary, great post! I am on my way to Kargo and Dean links. Maybe there really is hope.
Bill, I share your question: Why hasn't Judiciary gone after the servers??
Posted by Via at May 20, 2007 08:46 AMI first read about Congress's ability to arrest those in contempt from KagroX several weeks ago. Since then, thinking about it, I like it more and more. I think they should be strict in locking up government officials that fail to respond to their subpoenas or requests for documents. It maintains the proper precedent and either way, whether it's uncooperative, guilty-as-sin Republicans that fail to comply or others, it's a good idea to be throwing politicians, their advisers, enablers, and collaborators in jail on a regular basis. Keep them there as long as possible. Make it hurt. If the consequences of violating the will of Congress were reinforced more often, I think it would help to keep Nixonians out of public service.
Posted by NealB at May 20, 2007 10:06 AM