By Elana Schor - February 18, 2009, 3:40PM
The
AP finally
takes a look today at our January
Sleeper Bill of the Month, the congressional proposal for an independent commission that would investigate civil-liberties and human-rights abuses permitted during the Bush years.
Shocking as it is, Republicans tell the AP that a post-Bush "truth commission" is a terrible concept. But you've got to applaud the sheer chutzpah of Sen. John Cornyn's (R-TX) response:
This not only a bad idea, it is a diversion from the economic crisis we face.
I can't wait until the economic recession becomes a reason not to debate
union organizing rules and pass health care reform.
By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – A Democratic-proposed "truth commission" to investigate the Bush administration is generating more partisanship in a Congress already filled with it.
<...>
The most outspoken champions of a commission to investigate the Bush administration are Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary committees. Both lawmakers plan to proceed, despite Obama's comment.
"Investigations are not a matter of payback or political revenge," said Conyers. "It is our responsibility to examine what has occurred and to set an appropriate baseline of conduct for future administrations."
There's "an oversight responsibility that has to be carried out," Leahy said, adding that he wants to discuss the idea further with Obama.
<...>
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who also voted for Holder, called the "truth commission" suggestion "this left-driven desire to prosecute people" over Bush's anti-terrorism policies.
Another Republican, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, said the proposal makes Democrats vulnerable to allegations that they're piling on after already spending years investigating the administration.
"This not only a bad idea, it is a diversion from the economic crisis we face," Cornyn said.
Leahy acknowledged that a commission would have to be careful in seeking immunity from prosecution for witnesses. The convictions of Oliver North, in the Iran-Contra scandal, were vacated in 1990 because witnesses in his trial might have been impermissibly affected by his immunized congressional testimony.
There's also the danger of interfering with a special prosecutor's criminal investigation of possible criminal wrongdoing in the firings of U.S. attorneys.
The House and Senate judiciary committees have spent several years looking into interrogation policies, warrantless surveillance and politically motivated firings of U.S. attorneys. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and several of his top aides lost their jobs for allowing politics to influence department policies.
Prosecute!
Edited typo
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