Time to draw that line in the sand people:
Before we even get to the substantive fight over Judge Alito, I think the Dems as a party should make clear to the White House and their Thug colleagues that there will be no consideration of any supreme court nominee, nor of any other Bush policy items, until both a) Congressional hearings are begun to fully examine all the issues in the Plame exposure and its cover-up, and b) the White House complies with the following demands (continues on flip):
We should demand:
- that the White House identify "Official A," widely reported to be Rove, the person identified in the Libby indictment as the one who leaked Plame's identity to Novak, and who knew in advance of Novak's article;
- that President Bush honor his previous promise to dismiss anyone who leaked this classified information, and dismiss Official A, whoever it is;
- that President Bush respond directly to the report last week in the NY Daily News that Bush knew two years ago of Rove's involvement, even while the president's press secretary and Mr. Bush himself issued denials of any such involvement;
- that Mr. Cheney explain publicly what he and Mr. Libby discussed regarding Ms. Plame, and what role Cheney played in decisions to reveal that information to reporters;
- that Mr. Bush instruct the CIA to make public whether or not substantive US intelligence assets were compromised by the blowing of Plame's cover, and whether any person was killed or injured as a result of this revelation (to the extent that such public statements do not themselves compromise US intelligence assets).
Fitzgerald is constrained by the legal authority under which he operates. But his suthority and his mission to prosecute crimes does not fully satify the public's need to know what its government has done to compromise national security, to conspire to attack a truthful whistle blower, and to cover-up White House involvement.
That's why we need both Congressional hearings and a full and direct White House response to issues raised by the five felony indictments issued by Fitzgerald. The new SCOTUS nomination -- issued today, it seems clear, even in the face of Republican requests to wait, to get the Libby indictments off the front page -- offers a perfect opportunity for us to say STOP, there will be no business as usual, until the serious issues raised by the indictments are given proper attention by Congress, and the White House.