One has to laugh when contemplating the uproar democrats in Congress are trying to unleash over the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys. The same goes for the current non-uproar over the “outing” of Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert status in the CIA, a status, as it turns out, that never existed officially, and certainly not even tacitly for the number of years she’s been manning a desk at Langley, where all employees are quite un-covert as they drive into the parking lot and later shop at the malls…out in plain view.
The democrats promised a veritable plethora of investigations (euphemism for “witch-hunts”) when they took office in January, and they have been hard at it ever since – give them credit for trying! The problem is that they constantly “ride off in all directions at once.” For instance, Senate Minority Leader McConnell recited a list of the latest “war” resolutions promulgated by democrats – seems there were about 40 of them. They all are designed to just “do something” before the elections next year, lest there be some success in the war on terror, thus making the republicans look too good. Majority Leader Reid could get only 48 votes for the latest. What a laugh!
In Kentucky back in the late 80s and early 90s, federal investigators were tearing up the Kentucky Legislature and by 1993 had packed off to the Big House a large percentage of the solons, nearly all of whom were democrats, including the House Speaker. The current lieutenant governor, Steve Pence, was the lead federal prosecutor in that activity, part of which was known as the BopTrot scandal. Enter the Clinton administration in 1993. Of the 93 federal prosecutors nationwide, Clinton saw to it that 92 of them got the boot – in one day. It is more than just likely that a number of Kentucky legislators breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Obviously, the democrats must have a death-wish in causing this subject to be plastered all over the media. Even the New York Times and Washington Post can’t make this stink go away. But…the hearings in these matters give the stuffed shirts – senators and representatives – their 15 minutes to make the usual speeches and appear as statesmen…or statespersons or statesladies or whatever. The word is that the eight prosecutors, who can be legally fired at any time, were prosecuting folks the White House didn’t want prosecuted. That may or may not be true, but the mass firings in 1993 were probably precipitated, at least partly, by the fact that a prosecutor was getting too close to Illinois Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, a darling of the democrats, so that prosecutor and all the others were just creamed. Soon after, Clinton’s attorney general, Janet Reno, precipitated the massacre at Waco, not a laughing matter. Four federal agents and more than 70 members of the Branch Davidian cult died needlessly, but Reno contaminated the AG office for eight years. The irony is that Rosty went to the Big House anyway.
The Plame affair is both laughable and lamentable, not to mention slimy. Richard Armitage, a deputy in Colin Powell’s State Department, revealed Plame’s identity in 2003 to journalist Robert Novak and probably to journalist Bob Woodward. Powell, the FBI, and at least one other in government knew all this in 2003, as the investigation into who leaked Plame’s non-covert status to the media was carried out by Prosecutor Fitzgerald. Bush assistant Karl Rove testified five times before the grand Jury over a matter already settled. Finally, “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s chief of staff, was supposedly caught up in perjury over a matter already settled, and which had nothing to do with the “outing” of Plame, who had been working that desk un-covertly for five years. Laughable!
Also laughable in its predictability is the bill being pressed in the House by Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., chairman of the armed services oversight and investigations subcommittee, that would prohibit the military from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, and specifically authorize anyone separated for homosexuality, bisexuality or homosexual conduct to be allowed back into the military if he/she wishes. As virtually his first act in office in 1993 and with overwhelming majorities of democrats in both the House and Senate, Bill Clinton tried this same stuff, with the upshot being the “don’t ask, don’t tell” mess, under which well over 11,000 homosexuals have been discharged since 1994. Republicans have owned Congress since then, so the subject has been moot. Now, with just thin majorities, the democrats, who seem to be mesmerized by the homosexual community, are trying the same stuff again. This is laughable but regrettable, since the military needs no more disruption than it already is experiencing with the war on terrorism.
And so it goes with the laugh-in in Congress. One wonders if it will ever get down to serious business. The Senate’s main preoccupation currently, after a democratic Congress did nothing about Reno’s Waco massacre in 1993, is the attempt to force out Attorney General Gonzales for doing what the usual routine embodies, no matter which party is in power – ho-hum. Play it again, Sam.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
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