John Nichols: Congress should investigate Bush

[rodeodance]

http://www.madison.com/toolbox/index.php?action=printme2&ref=tct&storyURL=%2Ftct%2Fopinion%2Fcolumn%2Fnichols%2Findex.php%3Fntid%3D80754%26ntpid%3D2

John Nichols: Congress should investigate Bush

By John Nichols
April 19, 2006
In light of recent testimony by Dick Cheney's former chief of staff that both President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actively involved in scheming to discredit former Ambassador Joe Wilson, who revealed the administration's use of discredited Iraq intelligence, another key figure from the Watergate era has called for a congressional investigation.

Carl Bernstein, who as a young reporter for the Washington Post was part of the team that broke the story of Richard Nixon's high crimes and misdemeanors, is urging the Senate to launch a bipartisan investigation into the president's actions. His call comes on the heels of former White House counsel John Dean's charge that the crimes of the Bush administration are "worse than Watergate."

Though he says it is "premature" to talk of impeachment, Bernstein argues in a new Vanity Fair article that it "is essential that the Senate vote - hopefully before the November elections, and with overwhelming support from both parties - to undertake a full investigation of the conduct of the presidency of George W. Bush, along the lines of the Senate Watergate Committee's investigation during the presidency of Richard M. Nixon."

Bernstein asks, rhetorically, "How much evidence is there to justify such action?" His answer: "Certainly enough to form a consensus around a national imperative: to learn what this president and his vice president knew and when they knew it; to determine what the Bush administration has done under the guise of national security; and to find out who did what, whether legal or illegal, unconstitutional or merely under the wire, in ignorance or incompetence or with good reason, while the administration barricaded itself behind the most Draconian secrecy and disingenuous information policies of the modern presidential era."

But could Arlen Specter really be the Sam Ervin of the 21st century?.......

[ShortnFiery]

1. "But could Arlen Specter really be the Sam Ervin of the 21st century?..."

Only if he has the cajones to put them UNDER OATH. :-)

[Captain Hilts]

2. What are the "cajones" for? You don't need them for moral fortitude. nt

[ShortnFiery]

4. Oh excuse - the correct spelling is "Cojones"

In Spanish it translate to the word "testicles."

To the more mild mannered folk, it means simply "courage."

[Captain Hilts]

5. You don't need testicles to have courage.

This was not a criticism of your typo.

[ShortnFiery]

6. I see we've reached a "culture clash" of sorts

It's urban slang that equates to BALLS! He's got "big balls", she's got "big balls" - the person is willing to put themselves out on a limb for what he/she believes is right, i.e., an example of courage.

Sorry to be so indelicate but I was attempting to be subtle ... my family says that I tend not to do that often enough. :blush:

p.s. yes, like AC/DC, I've got the biggest balls of them all. :rofl: - and I'm a broad. ;)

[Captain Hilts]

7. I understand the term and find it horribly sexist.

If we're talking about moral fortitude, you don't need balls for that.

If we're talking Olympic weight lifting, you do.

Thinking you're complimenting a woman by saying "she's got balls" is like telling a black person "that's awfully white of you!" Both imply what they are isn't good enough. And that's an insult.

[ShortnFiery]

8. Sorry, I don't agree

Men and women have wonderful qualities. Women tend to find compromise.

No one is more pro-women's rights than myself, but you can't deny nature. All that testosterone makes the bulls on the farm ... well extremely FORWARD.

I am not ashamed to call myself "a broad" either. I know my worth and believe in equal rights.

Unlike artificial attempts at differentiation people of other races, traits ID'd with both the male and female character have their strengths.

I harbor absolutely NO disrespect toward your attitude, but only suggest that we are who we are genetically - and it is a fact that males tend to be more aggressive in general due to all that surging testosterone from their cojones :-), ergo the Urban Slang. IMO "courage" take more than merely moral fortitude ... and for Specter to put these goons under oath, it will take exactly THAT! = courage.

To each her own. :hi:

[Captain Hilts]

9. I worked in politics and found women more aggressive...

and daring than men. It doesn't matter which party.

The Congress is full of wimps. The vast majority of those wimps are men.

I don't want someone to 'credit' me with 'having balls' should I take a strong stand on something. I'll accept having 'nads, but not 'balls'.

[ShortnFiery]

10. Ok, we disagree ...

I have balls and you don't. That's cool by me. :-)

[whalerider55]

3. No

he will be the Judiciary equivalent of Pat Roberts in the 21st Century.

whalerider55