Is the questioning of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales evidence that the Democratic Party leadership is finally scrutinizing the Bush administration? Or does it provide a useful illusion to distract from the Democrats' continued failure to raise questions about long-standing, deeper issues?
Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont Thursday morning delivered a "tongue-lashing" to Gonzales: "Today the Department of Justice is experiencing a crisis of leadership perhaps unrivaled during its 137-year history," said the Vermont Democrat. "There's a growing scandal swirling around the dismissal" of prosecutors, he added.
But when I asked Leahy about investigating the impeachment of Bush and Cheney late last month, he replied only by talking about the attorney general scandal, without addressing the question of impeaching Bush and Cheney. This, even though the people he purports to represent voted to do just that in town hall meetings throughout Vermont.
Question: Senator, townspeople all over your state of Vermont have recently voted for impeachment. Do you think that the facts and the constitution, not the politics, but the facts and the Constitution merit at least investigating Bush and Cheney for impeachment?Senator Patrick Leahy: We have a great deal of investigation going on and you'll see Kyle Sampson, the Assistant to the Attorney General appear before my committee under oath on Thursday this week and I've already go the authority for subpoenas for many others. There's not going to be a lack of asking questions. Thank you. Video is here.
But there is a lack of answering questions. Gonzales is being taken to task for not answering questions; but he's not the only one.
[originally published at husseini.org on April 19, 2007]