I've been busy reading the entire Woodward book today (and, boy, are my arms tired). Look for my reflections later. In the meantime, a few other observations:
Is the Republican leadership no better than the Catholic Church when it comes to policing its own ranks? The Mark Folly scandal deserves two investigations. One ought to be criminal. Did disgraced Representative Mark Foley break the law in any of his interactions with congressional pages? The Justice Department and the FBI should examine this. But an entirely separate inquiry should focus on another critical matter: did House GOP leaders--including Speaker Denny Hastert--not take sufficient action in response to early warnings about Foley? An outside investigator--perhaps a former prosecutor--should be brought in by the House to do this. (It's beyond the abilities of the House ethics committee and perhaps not even within its purview.) Such an investigation ought to have a tight deadline. It's not inconceivable that an investigator could interview the main players and have a preliminary report out before the elections. (That's how a journalist would conduct an investigation.) Democrats should push hard for this sort of inquiry--and make the Republicans say no and squirm.
Another squirming Republican? A few days ago, Senator Arlen Specter, the Republican chair of the judiciary committee, voted for the detainee bill even though he had earlier said it was "patently unconstitutional on it s face" due to its denial of habeas corpus right to detainees accused of being unlawful combatants. What did he say after voting for it: that "the court will clean it up" by striking out the unconstitutional provisions. So he'll leave the heavy lifting to the judiciary. But what about the oath he took when he entered the Senate? Didn't it say something about protecting the Constitution? Oh well, never mind.
Posted by David Corn at October 2, 2006 07:21 PM
