This is the first diary I have posted on Daily Kos. I have followed this blog's discussion concerning the absolute necessity that the Legislative branch respond appropriately to the Administration's refusal to honor subpoenas relating to a host of Justice Department misdeeds. This issue is likely to repeat itself many times over, since Congress has the duty to exercise oversight relating to many other things, including: billions in unaccounted-for funding to contractors in Iraq; massive waste and mismanagement in the wake of Katrina; the Energy Task Force; the RNC vanished e-mails; the Abramoff connection; the Bush-Rove-Cheney-DeLay-Abramoff quid-pro-quos; Abu Ghraib; extraordinary rendition; Tillman-gate; political misuse of the Surgeon-General; shoddy care for veterans by politically-favored privatizers; and these are just for starters.
I think we all understand that, if the truth about all these matters came out, this Administration, and this President, will have demonstrated a contempt for our Constitution surpassing Nixon's, a capacity for old-fashioned graft on a massive scale which surpasses Harding's, and a bone-headed lack of judgment matching Buchanan's. Worst. President. Ever. If the truth comes out in time, the American people may form a consensus for Impeachment. Disregard of subpoenas is this Administration's firewall.
We must force the truth to come out. For the sake of ourselves and our posterity, we must not back down. In my opinion, the progression will probably go from Statutory contempt, to Inherent contempt, to Impeachment, time allowing. We can assume that Statutory contempt will not work because the Justice Department will refuse enforcement, but it should probably be attempted so that the American people will understand the necessity of the use of Inherent contempt. Whether you support Impeachment or not, Inherent contempt will have to be utilized to obtain the evidence necessary to establish a case for Impeachment. Therefore, I see Inherent contempt as the key ingredient in the search for truth.
In Wednesday's blog, Kagro X laid out the details about Subpoena-gate far more ably than I could. My diary today is meant only to illustrate a small detail, but I think it is an important one that should not be ignored. Later on that day, 6:15 p.m. Eastern to be exact, I listened to Daniel Schorr's commentary on NPR's "All Things Considered." In it, he stated that subpoenas "have to be enforced by a U.S. Attorney." In his closing, Mr. Schorr noted a wry comment by a Member of Congress, referring back to "a time when Congress could order arrests."
Mr. Schorr doesn't seem to understand that there is such a thing as Inherent Contempt, or at least seems to think that is is as much a dead letter as, perhaps, the Fugitive Slave Laws. What Constitution is he reading? At least in terms of MSM, isn't he one of the good guys? Isn't NPR on a higher level than other MSM networks? We cannot let errors of this sort go unchallenged.
I encourage all bloggers to contact NPR and respectfully challenge yesterday's commentary. But, in a larger sense, this episode points out a great challenge ahead: the American people must be educated concerning the looming Constitutional crisis. The MSM fulfilled this role during the Watergate crisis, but has failed to respond adequately this time around. This time, the task devolves upon us, the bloggers. It is time to get to work.