John Nichols (The Nation): Checks, Balances & an FBI Raid on Congress

[Jack Rabbit]

From The Nation
Dated Wednesday May 24

Checks, Balances & an FBI Raid on Congress
By John Nichols

No one seriously believes that William Jefferson is going to survive the political train wreck he has made of his congressional career. Even the notoriously forgiving voters of New Orleans – who just reelected gaffe-prone Mayor Ray Nagin – are not going to be comfortable with a congressman who hid $90,000 in cash in his refrigerator and got caught on an FBI tape talking about taking bribes.

The question now is whether the system of checks and balances established by the founders in 1787 will be another victim of the train wreck.

When Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided Jefferson's suite of offices in the Rayburn House Office Building, they committed an act unheard of even in the darkest days of the Republic. On orders from the executive branch, federal agents entered the office of a member of the legislative branch and spent hours going through that office and removing materials they deemed necessary to an investigation.

Even House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the Illinois Republican who has been no great friend of the Constitution, awakened from the comatose state that has usually characterized his response to White House assaults on the system of checks and balances.

Read more.

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. Today's leak that the FBI is investigating the Speaker

is a BuhsCo horsehead in Hastert's bed. He was sent a message loud and clear today by BushCO.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. I doubt it's that simple

This isn't the first time Hastert's name has popped up in the Abramoff mess. There's probably nothing more Bush can do for him than he could have done for Tom DeLay.

Hastert's concerns are more genuine than that. He doesn't want to see the shoe on the other foot, where a Democratic president orders FBI agents to raid a Republican congressman's office. Suddenly, he's discovered the virtues of the rule of law.