WHAT KIND of contempt will Rove get from Conyers?

Let’s face it. Karl Rove is NOT going to show up at the House Judiciary Committee’s July 10 hearing on the possible political motivations of the trial of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman.

Let Conyers subpoena away, like he did with Harriet Miers and John Bolton in the U.S. Attorney firings. Attorney General Mike Mukasey refused to enforce the contempt citations, so the House filed a legal motion.

But, in that case, the court could simply tell Conyers that he hasn’t exhausted all his possibilities yet, namely that of inherent contempt.

The flip side to that, though, is that inherent contempt only applies to the Congress sitting at the time. So, Conyers et al would have to compel testimony from Miers and Bolton (or Rove) with the clock ticking toward the clichéd Labor Day start of the campaign season.

And, even with inherent contempt, what if they still refuse to testify? Is Passive Pelosi™ going to swear out the Capitol police to go to their houses with warrants?

Quick-draw Mukasey

So, the Eliot Spitzer investigation needed a personal okey-dokey from Attorney General Mike Mukasey?

Because the focus was a high-ranking government official, prosecutors were required to seek the approval of the United States attorney general to proceed. Once they secured that permission, the investigation moved forward.

But, Big Mike doesn’t have the time, or energy, or moral certititude, to investigate waterboarding? Or actually enforce a contempt of Congress citation?

Too bad George Tenet or Peter Goss didn’t hire call girls. Or Harriett Miers hire a gigolo, although the mere image of that might want to make me throw up in my mouth.
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Conyers’ puts burr up Pelosi’s ass on contempt

And, about time. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers has filed a resolution demanding Speaker Nancy Pelosi file a civil suit regarding Congressional contempt charges against Josh Bolton and Harriet Miers if Attorney General Michael Mukasey refuses to pursue the comtempt issue, as the pair continue to cite executive privilege.

Executive Director Philip Zelikow had at least two known phone calls to Karl Rove. In addition, as director of Condoleeza Rice’s National Security Agency transition team after the 2000 election, he had a major hand in demoting Bill Clinton counterterriorism czar Richard Clark.

Commission add-on Bob Kerrey threatened to resign when he found out about it, but let Chairman Tom Kean (sadly) talk him out of it.

Note: This is not just an Obama dig, but it is in part. To the degree Republican Congressmen, let alone Republican committee staff and bureaucrats learned anything in the first six years of BushCo, it’s how to roll “compromisers” in the gutter.

Contempt? Yes. Right now? No. Ditto for perjury

The House Judiciary Committee, on party-line vote yesterday, approved contempt citations on Josh Bolton and Harriett Miers, but an anonymous top Democratic official said the full House wasn’t likely to take up the matter until after the August recess.

Now, this A. None Mouse may argue this gives Bush more time to rethink his stance, and for Fielding to reach an acceptable compromise with Congress.

I’m here to tell her or him: “Ain’t gonna happen.” All you’re doing is giving Bush one more month on the calendar to stall this out until the end of his term. Look at how much time he has already gotten.

On Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy now says he is giving Attorney General Alberto Gonzales until late next week to revise his testimony.

Hell, give him ’til Christmas; it ain’t happening. There’s a proper pace for proceedings like this, yes, but given how much Gonzo testimony water has already passed under the bridge, Leahy needs to stop confusing “proper pace” and “snail’s pace.”

Bush tells Congress ‘shove it’ on any idea of contempt charges

Will House Judiciary move beyond contempt charges against Bush staff to actually start looking at impeachment?

The president has officially folded, spindled, and mutilated executive privilege.

Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege. ....

Mark J. Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University who has written a book on executive-privilege issues, called the administration's stance "astonishing."

“That’s a breathtakingly broad view of the president's role in this system of separation of powers,” Rozell said. “What this statement is saying is the president's claim of executive privilege trumps all.”

Impeachment is the only ultimate answer to this. And, it’s got clearer grounds, even, than anything war-related.