According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle Speaker Pelosi promises that contempt charges will be filed against Harriet Miers by the Judiciary Committee this week, for blowing off US law.
The Bush administration has, "disregarded the call of Congress for information about their politicizing the Department of Justice," she says. Avoiding the more cautious phrase, "possible politicizing," she doesn't mince words. "These are actual facts, and we will bring the contempt of Congress forth."
She also further explains her lack of enthusiasm about bringing Impeachment proceedings, saying quite succinctly (and quite accurately, in my opinion re the votes they actually have on their side) "Look, it's hard enough for us to end the war. I don't know how we would be successful in impeaching the president."
UPDATE II: TPM is now reporting on contempt charges, and NoMoJoe in comments below, points to comments there saying a Judiciary source claims it will be INHERENT CONTEMPT.
If this goes ahead as apparently planned, Conyers seems to have been given the green light from the leadership to fire away. Contempt charges are obviously the next step in the slim Dem majority's strategy of "doing what they can do," short of Impeachment. It's unclear at this point if it will be the supercharged "inherent contempt," that would allow the Congressional Sargent at Arms to roll into Texas and arrest Ms. Miers (hopefully at church) after which they could presumably lock her in a cloak room until she "gets religion," or the garden variety Contempt that would require the active cooperation of that very same politicized "Justice" Dept. (Yeah, right.)
If more contempt charges flow after this (and it seems inevitable, if witnesses and records simply keep not showing up) we may get some joy yet in the nightly news depicting White House official after White House official, ignoring the law, and avoiding the legal attempts by Congress to get at the truth about a WHOLE RANGE OF ISSUES. From fired federal attorneys, to the Pat Tillman cover-up.
We may be seeing a battle royale yet between this Congress and Bushco. Hopefully it will produce some great TV sound bites, and enough daytime drama in the hearing rooms, that the media will be unable to ignore it. It was when the Watergate hearings got TV coverage that the public started to get on board for stronger medicine.
At any rate, it seems we're about to see some action.
Bush the Second's legacy of illegal behavior is finally being confronted.
It may end up being "Impeachment by a thousand paper cuts," in this looming Congressional battle for truth. But it's a start.