Turns out the contempt is mutual

[CatWoman]

White House officials are vying to be the first person held in "contempt of Congress" for refusing to cooperate with probes of the Bush administration.

Turns out the contempt is mutual.

After four hours of questioning Attorney General Alberto Gonzales yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee didn't even require a vote to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Congress found Gonzales contemptuous.

Consider some of the invective directed at the attorney general as he sat hunched and grim at the witness table:

"The department is dysfunctional. . . . Every week a new issue arises. . . . That is just decimating, Mr. Attorney General. . . . The list goes on and on. . . . Is your department functioning? . . . What credibility is left for you? . . . Do you expect us to believe that? . . . Your credibility has been breached to the point of being actionable."

And that was just from the top Republican on the committee, Arlen Specter (Pa.). Democrats had to scramble to keep up with the ranking member's contempt.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/24/AR2007072402028.html?hpid=topnews

[Atman]

1. Tough words which will have no impact.

Gonzalez knows what he's doing. He's either been threatened with his life, or promised untold wealth and lifelong protection from The Family. Either way, he doesn't care. He has no shame, no moral compass, no conscience. He is simply a two-bit whore for The Family.

.

[frogcycle]

2. indubitably

I posted the other day that they need to find the ideal candidate for the first inherent contempt action in 75 years. Meirs, Bolton, the muppet-girls are all contenders. But Gonzo may have vaulted himself into the lead.

With an ironclad case - hell, eight leading congressmen as witnesses - of lying under oath - not just dodging, making questionable statements that are later adjusted just enough to say they were corrected - of a crime committed TODAY, not "old news that has run its course; we're moving on" this could be the ideal case to fire that shot across the bow.

If they bring inherent contempt charges, try it in a few hours - hell, what's to try? - and put him in their jail, then something's got to give. the cabal can take it to the SCOTUS, but SCOTUS doesn't even have jurisdiction. This is the "silver bullet" the founders gave the congress. So then bush either goes postal or blinks. Whichever it is, we deal with it. If he tries to declare martial law, dissolve congress, then they can arrest him. I love the sound of an impeachment trial to remove him while he is sitting in their fricking jail in the basement doing time for contempt!

Once he is removed, cheney too, Pelosi appoints Leahy Attorney General and they bring criminal charges against them.

Sounds far-fetched, but damn, folks, this is a runaway train. As someone posted earlier, we are watching history being made. Watergate will be "just a comma" compared to the story of the bush debacle.

[wiggs]

3. Inherent contempt is good to compel testimony. He should also be removed

from office. If one or the other, it is more important to get him out and someone ethical in.

[frogcycle]

4. agreed

if the whole thing doesn't blow sky high, then once you have gonzo in the slammer you impeach him. And if THAT doesn't bring buscheney running down Pennsylvania Avenue with shotguns, you do Harriet Meirs.

And if pug reps/sens contradict Jay Rockefeller, then either they are lying or the dems were being cut out of the briefings. Either way, they can be censured.

bush would not survive seeing congress putting his pals under a jail. he'd blow. And if we cannot reason with him and can't remove him, then we have to provoke him. Get him to hang himself. Maybe he goes postal, maybe he goes off on a bender. Either way, we have an ironclad case, no nuance, to declare him incompetent and remove him. Or impeach/remove. Just need to be careful to do cheney concurrently. But he'll be provoked too. And he is crazier than a bedbug already.

Much as Edwards said last night of the insurance companies, big oil, etc., they won't yield power; you have to take it from them. And if you can't take it from them by conventional means like overriding vetoes and impeaching because of their lackeys in the senate, you use the other Constitutionally-prescribed means to remedy the situation. Damn, that document gets better and better. I sure didn't comprehend back in high school what those guys in the 1780's accomplished!

[5X]

5. This is the least that should happen but I have lost all faith that it will.

I have moved to the show me state without lifting a thing.

[wiggs]

6. We have the USAG, who is supposed to represent all of us, acting

liking he's still GW's personal attorney. Confirming the president's personal attorney as Attorney General of the United States was a TERRIBLE idea at the time (can't believe they did it) and it has proven to be disastrous. There is only one remedy.