Power shift puts Bush team on defense

[rodeodance]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/18/CONGRESS.TMP&type=printable

Power shift puts Bush team on defense
Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Sunday, March 18, 2007

(03-18) 04:00 PDT Washington -- For six years, President Bush weathered controversies over warrantless wiretaps, abuse at Abu Ghraib prison and the government's bungled response to Hurricane Katrina with the help of a Republican Congress that wasn't eager to probe too deeply.

But less than three months into a Congress controlled by Democrats, top administration officials are being subpoenaed to testify, grilled before multiple committees or fired to contain the damage from recent scandals. Even Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is fighting to save his job.

To Democrats, it's a sign that checks and balances have returned after six years of one-party rule in the nation's capital.

"We have decided to turn the Congress from an accountability-free zone into a place where we hold the executive branch, the Congress and the federal government accountable," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat who's leading the party's re-election efforts.

The shift in power has made it impossible for the White House to control a series of scandals in recent weeks, from the mistreatment of injured soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to the controversial firings of eight federal prosecutors.

[lpbk2713]

1. Make em pay dammit.

Add a new wing at Leavenworth for all these worthless BushCo bastards.

[BadGimp]

5. lpbk that graphic is so darn painful

can you slip him an Oxy hit to calm the poor bastard down?

[mike_c]

2. fine-- now stop the damned war against Iraq....

Dems can stop the war with a single appropriations vote. They can FORCE Bush to end it. They do not need a veto proof margin, or any sort of "alternative plan."

STOP THE DAMNED WAR, NOW!

[aquart]

3. Are Democrats Borg with only one collective mind?

The votes aren't there. Democracy is slow. Tyranny is swift. We cannot end this war with the speed of tyranny.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. We've been having this discusion all night

and I am under the growing impression that folks truly do not know how government works

;-)

but you are ON TARET

Bravo

[mike_c]

9. then the dems are part of the problem....

eom

[calimary]

4. Imagine what else will be unearthed, if all of this has come out just

since January.

I'm rawther loving this. And as to stopping the war - I think we're on a roll now. And all this scandal and investigation stuff will unearth MORE malfeasance, which will have the collective effect of souring MORE people on the bush regime. And as they sour, and more than a few of 'em call and complain to their congresspeople/senators, the stonewalling that's keeping the bushies somewhat protected will stop. With every week, more republi-CONS start getting scared. As their sphincters tighten, they will NOT want to be associated with the Typhoid Texan. Especially the many who are up for reelection in '08. All this will add up to ending the war, too. Little by little, we have to keep poisoning the well for bush and the GOP. If there's enough poison in it, no one will come to drink anymore. And then the well ultimately dries up.

kkkarl may well live to see a "Great Political Realignment." But it won't be the one he had in mind or was working so hard for so long to build. He will have made it happen for the OTHER guys. OURS.

[luckyleftyme2]

7. is this our plan

to let him fall flat on his face again with the surge absurdity? never has there been a more incompetent person in office. never has there been so many behind the scenes personal doing damage control and spinning the truth.
this man is a phony,without a clue!

[LiberalFighter]

8. And the only thing that kept him in office was a Republicon controlled Congress

If there had been a Democratic controlled House in 2004 dimwad would had been investigated to the point of losing.