Once again, we find the Congressman from Livonia loyally obeying the direction from his leader, George W. Bush. On Friday, the House voted to hold Presidential Aides Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten in contempt, for their refusal to testify under oath regarding their roles in political firings of US Attorneys by the Justice Department. This of course is only one of the many ways that Republicans and Bush/Cheney have sought unprecedented and unconstitutional levels of so-called "executive privilege" to keep the American people in the dark. Shameful.
McCotter and 162 fellow Republican Congressmen chose to walk out of the Capitol and not vote.
Seriously.
When sought for comment, McCotter rather ironically called the vote "cheap political theatrics". As he got up and staged a rather theatrical boycott.
At the time of Miers failure to honor a Congressional subpoena, John Dean - a former Presidential Counsel and White House lawyer to Richard Nixon wrote:
It was on Thursday, July 12, that Miers was asked to testify before the subcommittee investigating the removal of U.S. Attorneys by the Bush Administration, and did not show. That same day, the subcommittee's Chair, Linda Sanchez (D.CA), undertook the preliminary steps necessary to declare Miers in contempt. By a party line vote of seven Democrats to five Republicans, the subcommittee ruled that there was no legal justification for Miers's failing to appear pursuant to the subpoena.
Notwithstanding this blatant affront to the House Judiciary Committee, Republicans members played their familiar role -- allowing party affiliation to trump institutional responsibility, just as it had when they controlled Congress.
Realistically, however, there is zero chance that Republicans will place their constitutional interest ahead of their partisan interests.
And that is exactly what Thaddeus McCotter does - puts partisan interests ahead of those of his constituents. It's got to be bad when Nixon's lawyer thinks you're shady!
2 comments:
You realize that Federal attorney's serve at the discretion of the president and can be released for any reason at any time. The only surprising thing about the firings that Bush didn't do it sooner, as Clinton did.
What do they have to fear, then, by testifying under oath? Just because someone CAN do something doesn't make it right. If attorneys are being fired for not being partisan enough, well that throws the whole justice system into question, doesn't it?
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