Under Oath, On The Record, & In Public

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/6295

Under Oath, On The Record, & In Public
by Scott Shuster | Mar 23 2007


Believe it or not, for the first time in over six years, George Bush has said something that I agree with. But, I'm not gonna tell you what it is up front. That was just the tease. Read on, and you'll see what I mean.

Of course this all has to do with the confrontation-du-jour between the Executive and Legislative branches of our government - in particular, the scandal involving the dismissals of eight US attorneys. I'm not going to get into the specifics of this scandal, because I've already done that once, and certainly there have been many other bloggers and journalists who've articulated all the points ad nauseum.

My shtick at this juncture is to ask a tough question of the Bush Administration - Why are you insisting on shielding your senior officials from answering questions from Congress UNDER OATH, ON THE RECORD, AND IN PUBLIC? The only possible reason for this is that they have things to hide. Of course they have many things to hide, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, we don't want our enemies finding out things they shouldn't. The Bush Administration has been THE MOST SECRETIVE of any presidential administration ever. The real question we need to answer is - are they hiding some wrongdoing? Or.. Have the Bushies been naughty?

Under Oath

Ab-so-frickin'-lutely! The Bush Administration officials, as well as any and everyone who comes before Congress or any hearing or any courtroom should be giving their testimony under oath! There should be NO room for ambiguity as to whether or not their testimony is honest, and there should be serious consequences for knowingly making false statements (perjury). I'm sick & tired of the White House's consistent & persistent pattern of lying!

We've gone through this before with Dubya and the 9/11 commission. There's no reason whatsoever that ANYONE should be exempt from being honest when testifying.

On The Record

You mean we shouldn't write down what you say? Why bother saying it if you're not going to own up to saying it? Once again - ridicules. This has to do with oversight and checks-&-balances in our government. EVERYONE should be accountable for what they say and do, and there should be NO ambiguity as to what was said simply because it was "off the record".

more...

[johnlal]

1. Sunlight, Clear Sky, Open Government-- Can't Be Wrong.

They say that the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch are co-equal branches, and that the independence of the Executive branch is jeopardized if the Legislative Branch is able to subpoena White House advisers. But what about when the Justice Department searched Congressman William Jefferson's Washington DC office? They weren't all that interested in Congress's status as a co-equal branch in that instance.

Do you want to fight a traffic ticket? Do you want to attend a hearing on rezoning your property? How about getting a divorce? Do you want to get your name legally changed? Want to complain about domestic abuse? Sue your neighbor? Each of these involve going on the record, having a transcript of the proceedings, and taking an oath to tell the truth. It happens all the time in the ordinary lives of individuals.