It's disappointing, though not surprising, that Democrats have not yet embraced censure. Instead, they are expressing "empathy" with Feingold's frustration. The general consensus is to wait until an investigation is over, which is basically like waiting for Godot. Oversight is dead in Intelligence Committee. D-E-A-D. Throw some black roses on the grave of Oversight and let's call it a day, shall we? You know those five stages of grief? Let's just whiz right past denial, anger, bargaining, and depression and move straight to acceptance. Our democracy is dying, and we don't have time to waste.
The Democratic leadership (and boy, did it take a lot of self-restraint not to put leadership in quotes) needs to accept that the concept of "investigation" by Congress is long dead. Investigation presumes that you have access to information. Investigation presumes that you have tools at your disposal to force parties to comply. Investigation presumes that the ultimate result should be a transparent accounting of the crime. But such investigation has died a slow and agonizing death since the President took office. Chairman Roberts from Day One has grabbed any notion of accountability in a chokehold and has slowly suffocated it to death. Accept this fact, Democrats: accountability is dead in this Republican Congress. It died quietly in the shadows, with a stifled whimper. I can only assume Democrats haven't accepted that fact because they still see its ghost. They sit in the committee rooms, surrounded by microphones and cameras and they think that the are participating in a process with a tangible result. Ah, how tempting it is when you have a willing ear and a camera in your face to embrace the illusion of investigation. But Democrats need to accept that it's all an emaciated vestige of a spiritless process. No investigation can be had when the Republicans have conspired to cover scandal after scandal in a whitewashed white shroud. Abandon hope, my friends. Leaders of this party, wake up and smell the stench of the cadaver you're perched upon, this Congressional carcass of oversight.
But, "the Intelligence Committee has set up a sub-committee!", they say. Can we not breathe life into the notion of accountability? Feinstein and others can trump up their role in the subcommittee all they want but the fact remains that the administration hasn't changed its contemptuous tone and hasn't made a good faith effort to aid in any investigation. Why would they? The President broke the law, it's only natural for his minions to stand in the way of accountability. To the Feinsteins and Levins of the world, who think we should wait before calling out the President on his crimes, I've got your "investigation" right here:
[FISA] shall be the exclusive means by which electronic surveillance, as defined in section 101 of such Act, and the interception of domestic wire, oral, and electronic communications may be conducted. Pub. L. No. 95-511, 92 Stat. 1783, § 201 (1978).
In the weeks following the terrorist attacks on our nation, I authorized the National Security Agency, consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution, to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al-Qaida and related terrorist organizations [...] I have reauthorized this program more than 30 times since the September the 11th attacks, and I intend to do so for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al-Qaida and related groups. - President Bush, Dec. 17, 2005.
There. Simple, ain't it? No need for Kabuki hearings where the witnesses are unsworn and are free to peddle the administration's lies unchallenged. No need to have an entire panel of legal experts attest that the program is "blatantly illegal," while only a couple toe the administration line so that the media can play it up as if there is a legitimate and close debate on the issue. No need to examine the law any further. I've laid it out above with crystal clarity: by the President's own admission, he has no complied with the requirements of FISA, which is the law of the land.
Let's have an investigation, of course. Let's have public hearings and let's show Osama that we still have some semblance of an open democracy. But those hearings shouldn't focus on if the President broke the law, but to what extent he did it. Accountability is dead, but the truth lives on. Censure the President, and let some form of justice rise again.