NB: The title of this post was written by my evil twin Derfla. I take no responsibility for it.
Congress, in its infinite wisdom, is about to take a month long recess during August. There is no evidence that Majority Leader Reid has activated his Recess Appointment Defense Team, so there is now the possibility that Appointed President George W. Bush can allow someone to resign and then use the Recess Appointment power to replace them without approval from the Senate.
Let's see, who can we think of that might do this for the good of the Appointed President? Hmmmmm.....
Vice President Richard Cheney? Naw, they're planning on throwing him and his staff under the Impeachment bus to keep Congress busy while the Appointed President and the Overt Administration make off with the loot.
Who else can we think of? Let's see, who on the current roster of Cabinet level Secretaries has a real serious risk of being impeached and or cited for Contempt of Congress or even having a Special Counsel created to investigate them, perhaps leading to a Special Prosecutor and even one or more indictments for say, perjury? Which such stalwart of the Overt Administration is so high on his or her relationship with Appointed President George W. Bush that he's willing to flat out lie on camera to the Senate Judiciary Committee, or to stonewall their questions which the basis for a Contempt Of Congress charge?
Who can it be now?
Why it's Gonzo!
More formally, it is Attorney General Alberto "Gonzo" Gonzales (known to the Appointed President as "Fredo")!
I don't need to go into the increasing firestorm of protest raging in Washington D.C. as it slowly and excruciatingly parses the abominable farce that was Mr. Gonzales' testimony to the Senate yesterday. What I wish to point out is an easy out for all involved, or so they will think. Let's lay it out as a series of steps:
Step 1: Alberto Gonzales resigns to remove an "unneeded distraction" from Appointed President Bush's focus on the Wah On Terrah. Or if he's uncooperative Mr. Bush simply fires him.
Step 2: Mr. Bush appoints a new Attorney General through the Recess Appointment power. This appointment will last until the end of Mr. Bush's term in office, by the way.
Step 3: Said new Attorney General announces a sweeping investigation of all sorts of stuff by the Bush Administration, which will unfortunately not be done until after the 2008 elections, but oh well, you gotta investigate with the Justice Department you have, not the Justice Department you want. It subpoenas everyone and everything in sight; those subjected to said investigations regretfully tell Congress, "I can't talk about that, I'm currently under investigation by the DOJ on that matter." Neat, right. Wrong! The mob is howling for blood! So let's give them some!
Step 4: About March of 2008, the new AG announces that there is sufficient evidence to try and convict Vice President Richard Cheney of obstruction of justice, perjury, war crimes, and being Dick Cheney. Regretfully as a sitting Vice President, he cannot be indicted; however, the new AG tearfully asks Congress to rid us of this terrible man.
Step 5: The Impeachment and Trial of Vice President Richard Cheney are used during the election season to serve as a blame sponge for the Appointed Overt Administration's misdeeds. Cheney accepts his Impeachment and Conviction stoically. He is then pardoned by the Appointed President, and flies off to Dubai to run Kuwait. There isn't time to submit a new Vice President's name for consideration in the Senate, and anyway new elections are almost here so they'll provide the replacement. And of course it would be pointless to Impeach President Bush at that point, since it would leave Nanci Pelosi to become President for a few months.
Step 6: Hillary Clinton and [insert VP choice name here] win the general election by a landslide. The House and Senate are firmly in Democratic hands. Mr. Bush pardons himself and virtually every member of his Overt and Covert Administrations as he leaves "to end our national tragedy caused by Richard Cheney". He and his daughters skip to Paraguay, while his wife divorces him and returns to her roots with the appropriate monetary settlement (and First Lady benefits).
Look how those swings sparkle in the sunlight! Time for Recess.....
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7 comments:
Gonzo, on the gripping hand, knows where at least some of Shrub's more embarrassing bodies are buried. Remember that he's the one who got Our Dear Leader out of jury duty in a drunk driving case during his time as governor of Texas, because as governor he might (pause for effect) have to pardon the defendant. (I know: it stretches the bounds of possibility, but that was the argument used.)
Shrub is Gonzo's firewall ... and they both are rapidly becoming tinder. (Or, as someone else said, Gonzo is a firewall made of napalm. Lovely image.)
This Article is the scariest analysis on Bush I have ever read. It is the conclusion of Ray McGovern and other members of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity and intelligent psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank. I would be very eager to know your take on it Alfred.
I'm not sure that Cheney will silently submit to being made the scapegoat, but I'm more curious about a relatively minor point: is it truly an established fact among the DC movers n' shakers that the Bush marriage is on the rocks?
Aditya:
I largely concur with the article, it matches a number of posts I made on FDL and some I've put out here.
It misses a major point however. If Bush is threatened by congress in any way (impeachment, cutting off funds) he may very well retaliate against congress directly and bring on a constitutional crisis not seen since the founding of the republic.
He is an armed, insane hostage taker, and we and the republic are his hostages...
Robert: I am going on many published reports of small but significant things observed in public which as a much married man I know damm well would have indicated to ME that i was about to get the chop, divorce wise. But beyond that i have no extra information. Unfortunately.
Many of my intel colleagues of course consider them effectively separated already. They have better inside info than i do, but they'be also often been wrong. So it remains an open question...
Unfortunately, or perhaps serendipitously, impeachments are the one thing the president cannot pardon, per the constitution. So Cheney, if impeached, would remain impeached. And Chimpy would likely be right behind him, if he was not impeached along with Cheney. Which would be the smart way to do it.
As for the chances of it happening at all, well, I have yet to see a Dem with the balls.
seamus: the pardon doesn't wipe away impeachment, but rather prevents the kind of post-administration prosecutions the white house is afraid of, and Senator Biden today emphasized (hypocritically, he knows the blanket pardon will be used just as well as we do)
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