“I could have arrested Karl Rove on any given day,” Pelosi said to laughter, during a sit-down with reporters. “I’m not kidding. There’s a prison here in the Capitol … If we had spotted him in the Capitol, we could have arrested him.” … Asked on what grounds she could have arrested Rove, Pelosi replied, “Oh, any number. But there were some specific ones for his being in contempt of Congress. But we didn’t.” – Nancy Pelosi Slams Contempt Vote: “I Could Have Arrested Karl Rove … But We Didn’t”
THE SECOND STORY in a day reveals how badly Democrats play today’s political game. Nancy Pelosi could have arrested Karl Rove but didn’t; so why didn’t she?
From letting George W. Bush and Dick Cheney off the hook, instead of making them show up in hearings to explain themselves for Iraq, torture and Abu Ghraib, to the newly declassified NSA documents that reveal just how inept Pres. Bush was before 9/11, to allowing Karl Rove slither away unscathed for his role in outing Valerie Plame, Democrats shirked their responsibilities to reveal the prior Administration’s machinations for what they were.
On the other side, Republicans have no qualms about holding A.G. Eric Holder in contempt for reasons that have nothing to do with what he’s done, as they use the death of border agent Brian Terry who was killed, with evidence murky all ’round on the guns involved, but instead take advantage of an election year situation to squeeze Pres. Obama.
Lanny David and Michael Steele can talk all they want about the bipartisan air beneath their wings, but the reality is very different when it comes to how Republicans treat Democrats, especially in an election year.
Pelosi’s statement about Rove is worthless today, except to reveal why Republicans always push Democrats to the brink, which in the Obama era has led to our politics going step by step further right.
They know they’ll blink.
This comment has been deleted, because it was off topic.
Now I get it, you are a blue dog Democrat! Explains a lot, since your guy Obama is basically a moderate Republican.
RAJensen 21 June 2012 at 9:16 am
Anyone deciding to drop in and insult people through ad hominem scattershot attacks is going to have his or her comment deleted.
Maybe Nancy is just full of shit.
I, for one, appreciate having the Democrats around.
Where would the Harlem Globetrotters be without the Washington Generals?
Most progressives I know feel the same about the Tea Party and Rush Limbaugh, as well as Sean Hannity.
The Republicans are a sheer criminal enterprise and their entire function is to redistribute wealth from the rest of us to the already wealthy elites.
The Democrats are a lot worse as they have shown themselves every bit as capable of whoring for capital as the Republicans, as they swim even deeper in the cesspool of treason by trading on the party’s past reputation of public interest, and pretending it is still a party of the people. Republicans will be republicans. Evil. You expect the a-hole kid in the playground to live up to his reputation. It hurts a lot more when its your friend sticking the knife into you.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
I find it amazing that Rep. Pelosi would think of her lack of action as some admirable form of restraint. It’s the opposite. If Karl Rove, as a part of the executive branch, was thumbing his nose at a congressional subpeana, arresting him is what Congress should have done. There’s a reason impeachment exists as a constitutional power, and it’s not so you can take it off the table and put it in the closet to show what a good person you are. It’s so the branches of government can be equal.
Pelosi’s “taking impeachment off the table,” regarding Republicans lying us into war, after the nonsense the Republicans put us through regarding Clinton, was probably the first action (or lackthereof) that truly soured me on the Democrats after 25 years of being a loyal supporter. They’ve done little to change that impression since.
I remember when then Speaker Pelosi talked tough about prosecuting Bush and other people for torture. I guess she forgot how that worked out for her. Even Leon Panetta came out against her. SHe looked really ridiculous when it was made public that she was in on all of the meetings. I think friends of hers should advise her to keep her mouth shut.
What was “made public” was another self-serving CIA document of the sort I was alluding to, alleging that Pelosi had been in on the meetings where torture was discussed. In fact, she had not, and the CIA document was nothing but supposition based on incomplete notes and convenient memories.
Cujo,
That must explain why Pelosi repeatedly contradicted herself, I mean “correscted” herself, during all of those awckward news conferences during this time. I will give her credit, she sure can talk tough. I guess Leon Panetta really had it in for her and that is why he revealed that everything that Bush did was above board and kept the Congress and other people in the loop. To be fair I did look into this before replying to you and on this page they say this
Politico: Pelosi Briefed on Waterboarding*
Congressional officials say the groups’ ability to challenge the practices was hampered by strict rules of secrecy that prohibited them from being able to take notes or consult legal experts or members of their own staffs. And while various officials have described the briefings as detailed and graphic, it is unclear precisely what members were told about waterboarding and how it is conducted. Several officials familiar with the briefings also recalled that the meetings were marked by an atmosphere of deep concern about the possibility of an imminent terrorist attack.
The fact is Pelosi came out talking really tough and only ended up hurting herself, her party, and if it was possible to make Congress look even worse in public opinion, them too. I know the GOP run Congress as kept up the all-time low aproval rating! I don’t know why we keep electing the same people from the same two parties. I guess if we did not elect “goofballs” the Government woul not be reflective of the People who sent them there.
*TM.COM MONITOR: This section has been edited due to long URL.
The briefings she was given were classified. Her answers were circumspect, because she was not the classification authority. The classification authority, in this case the CIA, apparently decided to not tell her what was going on, other than to say it was “legal”, and then lied its ass off afterward.
If you don’t understand that this is possible, then I don’t think you have any idea what “classified” means. What it means is that when you’re told something that is classified, and then you repeat it, then you stand a good chance of going to jail. Actually, that was in the old days when they actually bothered to have trials for people accused of treason. Now, you just disappear, as Bradley Manning would have if he hadn’t had some vociferous friends.
Her accusations were not circumspect, the were clear and on the news. I am not saying she did not have the right to bring it up. I am saying that to say such things, a person in her position, especially as Speaker of the House, should be able to back them up. This is from a year ago. It looks like there were 2 deaths of prisoners in CIA custody that was investigated. Even if the information is classified, the Justice Department can get access to any sort of information it needs. I think she went out of her way to make the point publicly that the CIA treats terror suspects in their custody like crap.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/us/politics/01DETAIN.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print
I am not in favor of making people disappear. I know we are using drones to “eliminate terrorists” and anyone that might be near them. War is ugly. I understand the Bush and Cheney admit to 3 suspects had been waterboarded and specific approval from the White House was given. KSM did not cave in and confess or reveal anything when he was water boarded. It was sleep depravation and making him stand up for very long periods of time and then offering him rest and sleep that got him to talk.
The main point that I am trying to make is that Nancy Pelosi is setting herself up to look like she did when she was House Speaker and made similar allegations.
On a side note – My cousin posted on Facebook that Bradley Manning should receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
With everything about that program being classified, I don’t know how it’s possible to prove accusations. The DoJ seems to have no interest in looking into things, and even they have a rather complicated secret court procedure they have to go through to get access to it. During the Scooter Libby trial, Libby’s defense team attempted to subpoena just about all the documents that would have crossed his desk while he was the Veep’s counsel, a strategy a lot of folks termed “greywashing”. There are definitely limits to what can be subpoenaed, and they only have to make sense to a few people.
PFC Manning deserves the prize a lot more than Barack Obama did, or does. The only reason I think Manning probably won’t get it is that the committee would then have to explain away why he was rotting in the jail of one of the previous prize winners.