John Conyers

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) got a contempt citation passed in his House Judiciary Committee for both Miers and Bolten in late July, because, as the photo reminds us, when they were subpoena'd for testimony related to the U.S. attorney firings, they told Congress to go Cheney itself. They both, plus Rove to the Senate Judiciary Committee, claimed that executive privilege protected them from even having to appear in person to invoke executive privilege - hence the empty chair pictured above.

Conyers' contempt citation means exactly dick until it is passed by the full House. And as House leader Nancy Pelosi crowed, the most important thing about Democratic takeover in Washington D.C. was "subpoena power."

So it's no surprise then that as soon as Congress returned from summer recess, Nancy "subpoena power" Pelosi made sure nothing happened. Then a vote was supposedly imminent in November -- Conyers even issued a final warning to the White House. But the vote didn't come (it got pushed to December because Congress was busy caving to Bush on Iraq and FISA). Then it was supposed to come shortly after the winter recess. But, Nancy "subpoena power" Pelosi strikes again:

Senior Democrats have decided that holding a controversial vote on the contempt citations, which have already been approved by the House Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, would “step on their message” of bipartisan unity in the midst of the stimulus package talks....

“Right now, we’re focused on working in a bipartisan fashion on [the] stimulus,” said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), indicating that the contempt vote is not expected for weeks, depending on how quickly the stimulus package moves....

“When we have the votes, we’ll go ahead with this. Right now, the votes are just not there,” said one top House Democratic insider, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Ow, the stupid, it hurts. Firstly, the bipartisan "unity" of the stimulus package is simply this; on a bipartisan basis, Congress is passing 100% of the tax cuts that Bush wants.

So it's for that utter capitulation that James Madison's required checks and balances moves to the back burner.

And when will we pick "it" back up? Why, when the votes are there, of course!
What votes? GOP votes.

When exactly will Republicans vote to send fellow Republicans to prison?
Any day now! All that's needed is some more of that sweet bipartisanship.

Jesus Fucking Christ in a Chicken Bucket counting on these Democrats is like being forced to shave off your nipples... Which is merely to say that it's awful and painful, it mostly makes you want to vomit, and just the thought of it is infuriating, confusing and insulting.