Sen. Patrick Leahy stepped across the 'Lines in the Sand'

[donsu]

http://counterpunch.com/fleischman03242007.html


Confrontation, At Last
Lines in the Sand


Rejoice! Congress may have come to life!

The President has drawn his line in the sand and a Senator has crossed it!

"We will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants," President Bush said in a last ditch effort to keep his manipulator, Karl Rove, and his former attorney, Harriet Miers, from being questioned under oath in a Congressional hearing. They would be grilled on the scandal that's been hanging over the Justice Department, and particularly Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney General, about the dismissal of eight US Federal Attorneys allegedly for political purposes.

Senator Patrick Leahy, D-VT., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is the man who stepped across that line in the sand and threatened to send out subpoenas for Rove, Miers and their aides if they didn,t appear voluntarily. "I want testimony under oath. I,m sick and tired of getting half-truths on this," said Leahy. "Testimony should be on the record and under oath. That's the formula for true accountability-- it is not helpful to be telling the Senate how to do our investigation or to prejudge its outcome."

Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Democrat of Michigan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee doesn,t want anyone like the President telling him how to do his investigation, either. He is also preparing subpoenas for Rove and Miers to get their sworn testimony in the House inquiry.
-snip-
---------------------------


get those subpoenas SERVED NOW

[tiptoe]

1. * use of the terms "honorable.public.servants" is what drove Leahy over the line nt

[opihimoimoi]

2. The Whole BushCo Cronyism approach is anything BUT Honorable..they lack INTEGRITY and Patriotism

Go Pat....

[JitterbugPerfume]

3. wasn't it Leahy

who Cheney told to fo f##k himself a couple of years ago?

Oh my!

[tiptoe]

5. yep. Somewhat curiously, same words were used by election-pollster Warren Mitofsky to Ron Baiman:

Direct Material Proof of Massive Election Fraud in Ohio in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election —Ron Baiman (commented upon at very end of video; plus copy of final correspondence from Mitofsky in PDF)

[Oilwellian]

4. Someone pinch me

I feel as though I'm dreaming. :D

[Donnachaidh]

6. Pat Leahy's genuinely classy "In Your FACE Mr. President"

I love it.

It takes an elder statesman from Vermont to step up to the plate and politely and genuinely tell both the Chimp and Darth to *go f*ck yourself* without the filth.

Go LEAHY.

[dkofos]

7. This is far from over. And I think more lines will be drawn.

Threats of subpoenas is not issuing subpoenas. No one has testified under oath in the matter.

Until something comes of this mess, Leahy and Conyers are doing their jobs.

Which is way more than their counterparts were doing for the last 6 years.

[cali]

8. No. Don't serve the subpoenas now.

I too advocated this position until I was corrected. The subpoenas are strengthened by an attempt to negotiate with the exec branch. And Pat Leahy is an experienced former prosecutor as well as having been a Senator for 32 years. He's building a case. I think we'd do well to have some faith in his abilities.