Congress Returns, Ready to Battle Bush

[canihavu]

Congress Returns, Ready to Battle Bush
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Jul 9, 3:23 AM (ET)

By LAURIE KELLMAN

(AP) President Bush and first lady Laura Bush, arrive at the White House from Camp David, Md., Sunday,...
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressmen returning from their Independence Day break are ready for battle with the White House, with Democrats decrying President Bush's commutation of former aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence and fighting Bush's latest claim of executive privilege.

Both events occurred around Congress' vacation, inflaming an intense battle between Democrats and Bush over his use of executive power.

Several Democrat-led investigations are playing out this week as they head toward contempt of Congress citations and, if neither side yields, federal court:

_Monday is the deadline for the White House to explain why Bush is refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena for e-mails and other documents on his aides' involvement in the firings of eight federal prosecutors last winter. The White House is not expected to comply with the deadline.

_In a pair of hearings Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee will look at Bush's commutation last week of Libby's prison sentence for obstruction of justice in the CIA leak case. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to hear from former White House political director Sara Taylor about the prosecutor firings, according to Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

_The next day, the House panel is expected to turn to the prosecutor firings and has scheduled testimony from former White House Counsel Harriet Miers. It's unclear whether she will appear.

The weeklong summertime break did not cool the disputes. In fact, Bush's commutation of Libby's prison sentence teed up a new project for Democratic investigators.

Leahy and others said they suspect that Bush commuted Libby's sentence to keep Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff from revealing internal White House discussions.

So they are talking to the prosecutor in the CIA case, Patrick Fitzgerald, about testifying before Congress, several senators said Sunday.

(AP) President Bush, jokingly gestures as he poses for a photograph with visitors at the White House,...
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"I think you may very well see Mr. Fitzgerald before the Senate Judiciary Committee," Leahy said on CNN's "Late Edition."

Through White House Counsel Fred Fielding, Bush declared executive privilege on the documents subpoenaed by the committees. He argued that releasing them would damage the confidential nature of advice given the president. The Judiciary Committee chairmen demanded that the White House explain the decision more fully by Monday.

The Washington Post, citing unidentified sources, reported Sunday that Fielding was expected to tell lawmakers that he already has provided the legal basis for the executive privilege claims and does not intend to hand over the documentation sought.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, a senior Republican on Leahy's committee, defended the White House.

"There comes a point where the White House has to say, 'Hey, look there are certain confidential things in the White House that we're not going to share with Congress, just like there are certain confidential things in Congress that we're not going to share with the White House,'" Hatch, R-Utah, said on CBS'"Face the Nation."

Both Leahy and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., have said they would move toward holding those named in the subpoenas in contempt of Congress if they do not comply.

[guyone]

The commies are going down. Back to the depths of hell from whence they came.

[White_Male_Canada]

The commies are going down. Back to the depths of hell from whence they came.

What were their approval ratings again, 19% ? Worst ever?

Yeah, that gives Congress the upper hand/sarc off.

They already launched about 300 investigations in about 100 days. What are they gonna do, investigate more?/sarc off

[trish]

Jesus, guyone, is every fuckin’ thing in the universe a Bolshevik or a freedom loving American? We’re all concerned for your health; your mental health. You might want to seek counseling.

[trish]

And those sorry approval ratings were due to the fact that (choose one)

1. They were so effectively standing up to Bush;

2. With minor fuss they were giving Bush every thing he wanted.

Think twice before you leap to the conclusion that a poor approval rating for Congress translates into support for Bush, his policies and blunders.

[Rogers]

Jesus, guyone, is every fuckin’ thing in the universe a Bolshevik or a freedom loving American? We’re all concerned for your health; your mental health. You might want to seek counseling.

I think it's clear to everyone that guyone knows jack shit about politics, and probably a lot more besides. Even I know who Jennifer Justice is, and I just got here. WTF is guyone and his fellow wingnut retard _Canada doing here, if they despise liberals so much? Are they just here to try and bring this board down with false accusations of pedophilia? Not only would guyone not know a real commie if he saw one, but he actually thinks Hitler (and no doubt Mussolini) were socialists. Well, I've four words for guyone on the latter of his claims, the Spanish Civil War. With his childish stupidity, he is effectively shitting on every man, woman and child who has died as a result of both Communism and Fascism everytime he claims Hitler was a socialist, and everytime he calls someone a commie who isn't one.

Some more words for guyone:
SHAME ON YOU! and,
GROW THE FUCK UP!

[White_Male_Canada]

And those sorry approval ratings were due to the fact that (choose one)

1. They were so effectively standing up to Bush;

2. With minor fuss they were giving Bush every thing he wanted.

Think twice before you leap to the conclusion that a poor approval rating for Congress translates into support for Bush, his policies and blunders.

According to the last NBC/WSJ poll Congress approval was 23% and Sen. Reid was down to 19% with the President polling higher.

So with all that mojo they got, looks like a winning strategy to chase their tails and end up running into Article II Section II like a brickwall.

It`s the usual cheap politicking to appease the kook base who only see conpsiracies, from Libby to 9/11 was an inside job like the burning of the Reichstag.

[White_Male_Canada]

I think it's clear to everyone that guyone knows jack shit about politics, and probably a lot more besides. Even I know who Jennifer Justice is, and I just got here. WTF is guyone and his fellow wingnut retard _Canada doing here, if they despise liberals so much? Are they just here to try and bring this board down with false accusations of pedophilia?

Your hyperbole is only outdone by your hysterics and histrionics.

After the mod edited the posts I hit the search function and typed in pedophile. Guess what? No precedent was set by myself.

Now, we know you`re all pining for an all exclusive left-wing P&R section. So, go complain and lobby for it cry babies. Who knows, maybe you`ll get your collective wish. Or maybe they`re Libertarian and your worst nightmare.

[Rogers]

After the mod edited the posts I hit the search function and typed in pedophile. Guess what? No precedent was set by myself.

Edited? Don't you mean delete? There is absolutely no excuse for such an allegation here. No society can tolerate pedophilia, no matter how liberal or libertarian. Giving people who are not followers of alternative lifestyles reason to believe we tolerate pedophilia is the quickest way of making sure they clamp down on all of us, or are you too retarded to understand such a basic concept, White_Bitch_Crank?

The psychology of cranks
As noted above, in addition to a general lack of ability to accurately assess their own skills and knowledge, many cranks also exhibit deficiencies in reading comprehension, logical reasoning, and other cognitive abnormalities, which may contribute both to how they arrive at some bizarre counterfactual belief in the first place, and to how they are able to cling to such a belief in the face of all objections.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crank_%...logy_of_cranks

[guyone]

Hey Roger!

You Commie!