Give me patience.
It seems that the Democrats cannot avoid making moves that make them appear tentative and afraid. Everywhere you turn, Bush and his gang of crooks are stonewalling and the Democrats temporize hoping they can persuade them to be reasonable and to work with them.
This from Raw Story:
The House Judiciary Committee decided to delay a decision this morning on immunizing Monica Goodling, a former top Justice Department official implicated in the firing of 8 US Attorneys, from prosecution. And the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chose to push back a meeting on issuing a subpoena to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
There may be excellent reasons for these delays:
"Chairman Conyers and Ranking Member Smith agreed to delay this week's vote on immunity in order to take a better look at the facts," said Beth McGinn, a spokesperson for Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the ranking Republican on the Committee. "We want to make sure this is the best way to get the facts to the public."
But the perception is an unwillingness to confront. They appear timid and reluctant to strike, which IMO strengthens the opposition’s conviction to ignore or oppose them.
Rice ignored Waxman’s umpteenth request to appear voluntarily before his committee, instead she responded with yet another letter written by one of her aides.So what did Waxman do? He postponed action again . . . and threatened again.
"I have postponed the scheduled vote for a subpoena for your appearance before the Committee from tomorrow to April 25," he wrote. "I hope we can use this time to schedule your voluntary appearance before the Committee prior to the Memorial Day recess."
Who is he kidding? It's been over six years, doesn’t he know these people by now? Does he really believe that by his being so accommodating it will make them reasonable? No, They're probably laughing at him, which may portend the tone of the hearings when she does appear.
If he doesn’t have the balls to issue a subpoena, then he certainly does not have the nerve to find her in contempt.
But maybe now . . .now she will listen, as he made it clear this time that "his patience is running out." She must be trembling in her Ferragamos.
"At this point, further exchanges of letters may not be helpful," he noted. "I hope we can work together over the next week to schedule a voluntary appearance by you before the Committee. This would eliminate the need for the use of any compulsory process by the Committee and, I believe, best serve the public interest."
The public interest is served, Sir, by getting on with it.