July 6, 2007



Wehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
One of the most corrupt and secretive misadministrations in history says Dems' investigations are "excessive." Give me a fucking break.

The White House on Thursday pushed back against congressional investigations of administration activities, saying lawmakers should spend more time rubberstamping ummmm getting filibustered by repukes passing laws to solve domestic problems so the preznit can issue some more signing statements.

"They've launched over 300 investigations, had over 350 requests for documents and interviews, and they have had over 600 oversight hearings in just about 100 days," presidential spokes-tool Scott Stanzel whined. "So that's about six oversight hearings a day."
Well crap! Then just stop breaking the law, asshole! Problem solved! Alternatively, if you have nothing to hide, you've got nothing to worry about, right?!
The assertion of executive privilege was the latest turn in an increasingly hostile standoff between the administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress over the Iraq war, executive power, the war on terror and Dick Cheney's authority
... the illegal wiretapping program, the firing of US attorneys, the botched-up deadly boondoggle that is the US embassy in Iraq, presidental pardons...

From John Dean at FindLaw:

The Republicans' investigations during the Clinton years: their folly, and their high cost

Republicans held congressional hearings into alleged drug use by the White House staff; investments by the President and First Lady when he was Governor of Arkansas and they invested in a land development project known as Whitewater; the operations of the White House travel office; the death of White House deputy counsel Vince Foster; the referral of FBI files to the White House security office; the billing records of former associate attorney general Webster Hubbell; the foreign travel of Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary; and President Clinton's holding coffee klatsches with campaign contributors and inviting others to stay overnight at the White House, in the infamous Lincoln Bedroom.

And these were not passing investigations; to the contrary. For example, the Republican-controlled House devoted 140 hours to taking sworn testimony when investigating whether President Clinton had engaged in misconduct with respect to a Christmas-card fundraiser. Republicans worked mightily to criminalize Democratic political behavior, by using (and abusing) the Independent Counsel Act.

Republicans demanded independent counsel investigations of Henry Cisneros, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for allegedly giving the FBI false information during his background check (Cisneros lied about his finances, but only to cover up an extramarital affair); Bruce Babbitt, for allegedly giving Congress misleading information about an Indian casino proposal; Alexis Herman, Secretary of Labor, for alleged improper campaign finance arrangements; Ron Brown, Secretary of Commerce, for alleged improprieties with respect to his personal finances; and Eli Segal, Director of AmeriCorps, for alleged conflicts of interest. And, of course, an Independent Counsel would investigate the President and First Lady regarding Whitewater, Vince Foster's death, the travel office, and the Paula Jones lawsuit, which revealed the president's sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

Independent Counsel Ken Starr would become Congress's surrogate impeachment counsel, as the House voted to overturn the 1996 election, and the Senate wasted months doing what they could to tarnish President Clinton, but refusing to convict him of any impeachable offense. It was a donnybrook of the highest order.

Typical of the Congressional abuses of power during the Clinton presidency was the operation of the House Committee on Government Reform, which issued a staggering 1,052 subpoenas to investigate the Clinton Administration between 1997 and 2002.

Conservatively, I would estimate that the costs of Republican investigations of the Clinton Administration, which continued even after Clinton has left the White House, exceeded $200 million.

Right.

3 comments:

Jodin said...

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Anonymous said...

Good post Maru! Once again it demonstrates the incredible hypocrisy that the Reboobs nowadays consider 'normal politics'! Their lack of any sense of proportion 'outs' them as being amoral, Machavellian assholes.

Anonymous said...

But, these liars, thieves and murderers told us the truth about 9/11/01, right?

Right?