I enjoyed Richard Gere's number in the musical "Chicago" when his character, a high powered criminal defense attorney, displays to his wide-eyed client the distracting theatrics of the courtroom. The Democrats are also trying to razzle dazzle the American public with their subpoenas and "symbolic" votes concerning the Justice Department firing scandal, but its not working. Attempting to have 'Gonzo' Gonzales fired for incompetence is the actual waste of time, and congressional overreaching. Only the President can fire his cabinet officers and he is not going to fire the intensely loyal Gonzales. This is not the first instance of an administration politicizing the Department of Justice, nor the last. The affair is another irrelevant turf war staged for media value. The Senate is hopelessly deadlocked because of the repeated use of the "nuclear option", as Republicans referred to the filibuster when they were in power. Failing to obtain cloture to advance the bipartisan immigration bill with presidential support, and refusing to cut funding for the war indicates how weak the Democratic majority in the Senate is. Congress' poll numbers are dropping as Americans become increasingly dissatisfied with it's lack of performance.
In the House,
Speaker Pelosi continues to stand in the way of the what should be the real agenda of Congress: bringing the nation's Executive to account for the lies it told the country to obtain authorization for war on Iraq. Her justification that trying to impeach the Commander in Chief would divert energy from passing needed legislation has proven hollow and expensive. As
Rep. Dennis Kucinich succinctly put it, "minimum wage for maximum blood". His bill, HR 333, to bring impeachment charges against the Vice President for his role in the deception gained another ally in
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA). Her endorsement is significant because she sits on the House Judiciary Committee and is in a position to request that the bill be placed on the committee's agenda for consideration.
Chairman John Conyers sponsored his own impeachment bill, HR 635, in the last Congress that eventually ended up with 39 co-sponsors. But because he wanted the Judiciary Committee chair, he is not been willing to cross Nancy Pelosi so far. Thanks, Pat Oliphant for the 'toon.
