NYT EDITORIAL: "IN NASTY AND BUMBLING COMMENTS AT THE WHITE HOUSE...."

[DeepModem Mom]

Editorial
What People Really Need
Published: March 21, 2007

In nasty and bumbling comments made at the White House yesterday, President Bush declared that “people just need to hear the truth” about the firing of eight United States attorneys. That’s right. Unfortunately, the deal Mr. Bush offered Congress to make White House officials available for “interviews” did not come close to meeting that standard.

Mr. Bush’s proposal was a formula for hiding the truth, and for protecting the president and his staff from a legitimate inquiry by Congress. Mr. Bush’s idea of openness involved sending White House officials to Congress to answer questions in private, without taking any oath, making a transcript or allowing any follow-up appearances. The people, in other words, would be kept in the dark.

The Democratic leaders were right to reject the offer, despite Mr. Bush’s threat to turn this dispute into a full-blown constitutional confrontation.

Congress has the right and the duty to fully investigate the firings, which may have been illegal, and Justice Department officials’ statements to Congress, which may have been untrue. It needs to question Karl Rove, Mr. Bush’s chief political adviser, Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel, and other top officials.

It is hard to imagine what, besides evading responsibility, the White House had in mind. Why would anyone refuse to take an oath on a matter like this, unless he were not fully committed to telling the truth? And why would Congress accept that idea, especially in an investigation that has already been marked by repeated false and misleading statements from administration officials?...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/opinion/21wed1.html

[niyad]

1. rats deserting ship--pity the NYT didn't display this level of thought the last 6 years.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Actually, the editorial page, by and large, did. nt

[Fridays Child]

3. k/r

[grannylib]

4. Chimpy sounded like a second-grade bully on the playground. Arrogant,

juvenile, and obviously with something to hide.

Reid's line today was brilliant: "If Karl Rove plans to tell the truth..." he has nothing to fear from testifying under oath like any other citizen.

[quiet.american]

5. Whew! Excellent -- at last, no dissipating the piece with mitigating words.

At long last! I was expecting the NYT to finish off this editorial with something like this:

That would not be “partisanship,” as Mr. Bush wants Americans to believe. The president would do well to set an example of cooperation between the White House and Congress by publicly encouraging his adviser, Karl Rove, to testify under oath.

Usually, the NYT finishes a kick-butt editorial with some version of the above pipe-dream. Instead, it was extremely refreshing to see they finished the piece strongly with this:

It is no great surprise that top officials of this administration believe they do not need to testify before Congress. This is an administration that has shown over and over that it does not believe that the laws apply to it, and that it does not respect its co-equal branches of government. Congress should subpoena Mr. Rove and the others, and question them under oath, in public. If Congress has more questions, they should be recalled.

That would not be “partisanship,” as Mr. Bush wants Americans to believe. It would be Congress doing its job by holding the president and his team accountable — a rare thing in the last six years.

[Amonester]

8. Yeah. At long last...

"It would be Congress doing its job by holding the president and his team accountable — a rare thing in the last six years."

Alright: Better Late Than Never.

Tell us about that, NYT.

If only YOU HAD HELPED make that happen a little bit. Just a little bit... Like when you knew full well BEFORE Nov/04 the fact that bu$che/cheeeney/gone_zoo were breaking the FISA rules by eavesdropping on US without (even RETROACTIVE) LEGAL warrants!!

But, noooooooo... YOU "had" to keep the incriminating truth from being made public until ONE F**KING YEAR LATER, huh?

Thanks for NOT helping when it was time to do your job (not to mention the a$$pen's lie$...)

Now, it's sooooo much easier to blame others for not doing theirs, huh?

Apologies to the People are in order.

[gristy]

6. lots more discussion here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3173378

[Frustratedlady]

7. Good for the NYT.

I see criticism of the NYT, but I have read some great articles/editorials from them in the past, and this one has to help in this situation.

Now, to see the rest of them line up and add more fuel to the fire.

[Demeter]

9. They Won't Talk Because They Are Guilty, and They Know It

BushCo would much rather the whole subject went away.

Well, too bad. It is far more likely now that BushCo will go away, lock, stock and lickspittle.

Is Impeachment on the table yet?