The blue dress?

April 7, 2006

I’m fully aware this is a lost cause, but I can’t help but wonder what it would take for congressional [tag]Republicans[/tag] to hold an oversight hearing regarding the Bush [tag]White House[/tag] and [tag]leaks[/tag] of [tag]classified[/tag] information.

After six years in which the [tag]GOP[/tag] [tag]Congress[/tag] would launch a congressional investigation every time Drudge would run an anti-[tag]Clinton[/tag] alert, the [tag]Republican[/tag] majority still insists that there’s no reason to even hold a [tag]hearing[/tag] on the leak [tag]scandal[/tag](s) involving the president.

I keep thinking, in particular, of July 2003, when reports first surfaced that the White House leaked classified information to reporters. Then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman [tag]Porter Goss[/tag] said, “If somebody sends me a [tag]blue dress[/tag] and some DNA, I will have an investigation.” On its face, this was absurd. Goss, now the CIA director, maintained that evidence was necessary before Congress would begin an investigation. Goss had everything backwards — evidence is supposed to be a product of an investigation, not a prerequisite.

But even if we accept Goss’ ridiculously low standard, given what we now know, hearings are not only justified, they should be mandatory. A former senior aide to the president, who is facing criminal charges of his own, has told prosecutors that the president personally and directly authorized him to leak classified information to the news media. Isn’t this the “blue dress” Congress allegedly needs to start asking a few questions?

There are serious questions about the legality of the president’s conduct (can he [tag]declassify[/tag] national security documents on a whim?), as well as questions about whether the president intentionally lied to the nation (he said he didn’t know who the leakers are). Sounds like the kind of thing congressional oversight hearings are made for.

[tag]Democrats[/tag] in the House and Senate seem to have a few questions, so how about it, GOP? A hearing or two hardly seems out of line, right?

Or, let me pitch this to congressional Republicans a different way: [tag]Bush[/tag]’s political support is in freefall; what better way to prove your independence from a failed president than to exert some oversight responsibilities on our [tag]Leaker[/tag]-in-Chief?

Independence?

How can one be independent if one is on Bush’s & Cheney’s payroll? Or that of some lobbyist who is benefitting from Bush’s largesse? Bush’s approval can go into negative digits, and it will all be as relevant the price of tea in China.

Except that at least the representative or senator will have ulcers because they are trapped, but in politics once you’re bought it is unethical to “unbought” yourself.

  • They don’t know how to declare their independence (in Tom Jefferson’s day they would have been Tories). The only thing they want is to shirk responsibility, and they can do that by keeping their mouths shut and kissing the very guilty Bush/Cheney ass.

  • Pat Roberts idea of an investigation is to keep collecting documents and keep his committee staff reading. Eventually, they should be able to hold a hearing and ask some questions…

    … in 2020 maybe.

  • You might as well ask my left foot to declare independence from me. The GOP is all of a piece, as is their criminality and their shirking of constitutional responsibility.

    The modern Republican party is a political machine, with all the parts reinforcing each other. The lobbyists are often former congressmen being handsomely rewarded for their years as relatively poor legislators. The pundits have all graduated from a similar school and know their paychecks depend on parroting the party line. Bush himself, far from being an all-powerful godfather, is simply a public face for the moneymen who put him in office and pull the strings. And the congress people CB appeals to are as captive to the rest of the system as anyone else, owing both their current positions and their future prospects to staying in the good graces of the machine.

    Things are going badly for the Republicans, but you won’t see true independence from a single one of them unless the machine is destroyed first.

  • The comments of jimBOB pretty much reflect my views of
    the current administration and much of the congress. But most importantly, is the cause to invade Iraq and it’s current (insolvable) consequences. A giant pandora’s box
    has been opened and may be America’s demise. I’m not
    sure the next president (Democrat or Republican) or the next congress (Democrat or Republican) can solve our problems.

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