Committe in Search of a Purpose
What do the Salem Witchcraft Trials, Joseph McCarthy and the 110th Congress have in common? They were or are in search of demons. In Salem, 19 men and women (presumably guilty of nothing more than being weird) were hanged. Under the scrutiny of the Tydings Committee, many a Washington career was ruined by Joseph McCarthy. It remains to be seen what will come of the various committees now scurrying around Washington digging up dirt with respect to the dismissal of federal prosecutors.
What do we know? We know that eight federal prosecutors were removed from their posts in 2006. We know that they worked for the Executive Branch of the government. We know that past Presidents have routinely removed federal prosecutors from their posts. We also know that these may have been removed because of their politics. We also know that the Attorney General and some members of the White House Staff were involved in all or some of these decisions. None of this is illegal – it may be poorly administered government and an unnecessary politicization of the Justice Department – but it is not illegal.
So what more do we need to know. Nothing. It is highly unfortunate that these particular dismissals were handled so poorly. They are also tainted by the obvious (not too everyone) political overtones. Welcome to Washington; glass houses and all. The Attorney General should be publicly humiliated for having handled this so ineptly and the White House ought to acknowledge that it was poorly done and take steps to ensure that it will not be done again, citing evidence of same.
However, the time, energy and taxpayer money being wasted on efforts to find yet another bogeyman in the closet is just simply….well, a waste. In the 1950’s Senator Tydings said that the result of McCarthy's actions was to "confuse and divide the American people [...] to a degree far beyond the hopes of the Communists themselves." The current witch hunts underway in Washington seem to be headed down this same rail. Senators Leahy and Schumer and Congressmen Waxman and Conyers continue to scratch the same wound for their own political purposes, just as Joe McCarthy did before he was so discredited.
Thomas Jefferson said, “The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest”. In this particular case, the Executive Branch should just state the obvious; and Congress should acknowledge that they are engaged in nothing more than a politically motivated witch hunt.
Correct - sort of
I don't disagree that the Executive Branch has behaved poorly. There is no excuse for politicizing the Justice Department. Too many have tried it before and someone will try it again. However, we have those facts and it is time to simply state the obvious. They did it, it is wrong and we should move on. There is nothing illegal about what has been done. We are a long way away from obstruction of justice; and loathing of this President is not a sound national policy.
The Democrats have the facts at their hands. The show trial for the television cameras only prolongs the agony, gives the politicians a platform to spew their venom and waste our time and money.
It is a witch hunt designed to embarass and harass. It is also designed to drag the process out as long as possible for electioneering. Oversight is one thing; grinding to a halt is another.
I wish this federal prosecutor investigation were just a political witchhunt. Unfortunately, two important issues are at stake, and the outcome matters to all of us in each one.
The first is the separation of White House politics from federal prosecutors. Once the politicians appoint them, they're supposed to leave the prosecutors alone, not push them on what and whom to prosecute. A federal prosecutor has far too much power and discretion to be used that way y politicians. Even if he doesn't put a person in jail, he can wipe out a person's savings, livelihood and reputation even if the person is innocent. We need to know if this group of politicians has interfered with prosecutors.
The second principle is that the Constitution gives Congress the job of making sure the executive branch is behaving properly. It's been so long since we've seen Congress exercise that oversight responsibility that maybe some of us have forgotten it's Congress's job. The Bush administration is facing oversight for the first time this year. At some point, obstructing a federal prosecutor or Congress becomes a felony. These White House guys should visit Scooter Libby in prison if they need to be reminded of that.