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Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington

Posted March 7, 2009 | 07:59 PM (EST)

Sunday Roundup


Despite Karl Rove's concerns that his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee could become a "show trial," the deal he cut assures that his testimony, at least initially, will be conducted in private. John Conyers promises to get to the bottom of Rove's role in the US Attorneys scandal, but will Bush's Brain be asked about the outing of Valerie Plame? The prosecution of Don Siegelman? His cozy relationship with Jack Abramoff? The Rove deal allows Obama to sidestep weighing in on Bush's very broad claims of executive privilege. White House Counsel Greg Craig says Obama is "very sympathetic to those who want to find out what happened," but doesn't want to "do anything that would... weaken the institution of the presidency." After reading the chilling secret Bush memos released this week, the idea of a less unbridled executive branch doesn't seem like such a bad thing.

 
 
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11:49 PM on 03/08/2009
Can someone explain to me why secret legal opinions designed to undermine and nullify the Constitution and keep them away from Congressional oversite is not Treason?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
lizr
goofing off here
07:10 PM on 03/09/2009
yeah I 'm kinda curious about that too.
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breakingpoint
War is a Racket - Smedley Butler
11:08 PM on 03/08/2009
He alone made it into a show trial - this is the People's House and Government.

Behind close doors? Too late!

What he has done was build this up so he can hide from the Public, allowing him private testimony is a terrible example to set, this sends a bad message to all Congress calls before them.

ENOUGH!
11:19 PM on 03/08/2009
WE WANT KARL ROVE! SOMEBODY HAS TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY. I THINK THAT PRESSURE SHOULD BE PUT ON THIS MAN BECAUSE HE ORCHESTRATED THE WHOLE SPIN AND HAD A PLEASURE DOING IT AND GUESS WHAT HE'S WORST THAN ANY WHITE COLLAR CRIMINAL BECAUSE HE IS STILL SPINNING. PUT HIM IN JAIL.
09:39 PM on 03/08/2009
Rove has shown nothing but contempt for the legal authority of this country. He thinks he is expempt and can do whatever he pleases, and ... it looks as if he is right. I know the current Administration has enough to handle without the distractions of the wrong doing of the last Administration, but if the last Administration is permitted to get away with the pattern of behavior that indicates there may have been violations of law, then it is necessary that it be investigated and prosecuted if warranted. To do nothing is to validate the behavior and give precident for future actions of the same type. There is a new "sheriff" in town and it is time they cleaned up "Dodge City".
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
Gib
My micro-bio is empty
09:27 PM on 03/08/2009
So President Obama doesn't want to "do anything that would... weaken the institution of the presidency." This is not exactly a surprise, since to my knowledge no political leader has ever relinquished any power voluntarily. But it is a great disappointment nonetheless, because it shows the president acting just like any other politician. Nobody whose opinions I respect was in support of GWB when he expanded the powers of the presidency. I doubt very much whether Obama supported Bush then. Now that he is in the driver's seat the story changes. Meet the new boss ...
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army193
09:19 PM on 03/08/2009
The old saying is once the Executive Branch is given the power they will not relinquish it without a fight...It will be up to us to fight for the return of that power back to the peoples house.
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Dredd
Our government is a wartocracy.
08:55 PM on 03/08/2009
Arianna,

you are another reason women should rule the world and Rove is another reason men should not.

Happy International Women's Day 2009:

http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/03/happy-international-womens-day-2009.html
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roselaw
08:53 PM on 03/08/2009
I read that Rove will not testify under oath? This terrible "deal" was engineered by White House counsel Gregory Craig and his aides, who played a "critical role," according Newsweek. However, Newsweek entirely omitted a very pertinent fact, reported by Glynn Wilson at the Locust Fork News-Journal: Obama's White House Counsel has worked for Rove.

Anyone interested in this matter MUST read Chris Floyd's amazing article on this weekend's CounterPunch on line edition, "Tangled up In Karl "on the multiple ties that Craig and his law firm have with Rove, Cheney and other members of that criminal organized known as the Bush White House.

Craig had NO BUSINESS becoming involved in the Rove matter, and an attorney for one of the whistle blowers on the Alabama case has demanded that he recuse himself from the matter. Its unbelievable. Washington is such a slimy swamp.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Paul Peete
Proud to be Progressive!
08:15 PM on 03/08/2009
No one wants Bush and his administration exposed as the cabal it was any more than me, yet I don't understand why this isn't done under the purview of the Justice Department. AG Holder hemmed and hawed during his confirmation hearing uttering phrases similar to the President about looking forward and not backward. The President, the Attorney General both took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign or domestic and clear evidence of criminal behavior is contained in the memos released this week.

When the Senate hearings about a truth commission were held, the Republicans said that the mechanisms exist in the Judiciary to deal with the problems cited. Well, lets get to it! We citizens must demand, in the press, the streets, and in communications to our representatives that all crimes committed under the Bush Administration be exposed, prosecuted, and punished in order to restore America to its Constitutional guarantees of equal protection under the law.

We allowed eight years of fear to squelch free speech and watched as our country faded from the world stage as a beacon of hope. The young voters who placed faith in Obama to restore that leadership must not let up now that he is in office. Those of us old enough to have lived through the Kennedy assassination, Watergate and the Reagan, Gingritch right wing turn must offer our experience and lessons learned to help them.
09:18 PM on 03/08/2009
Just a thought, but the republicans are already beginning to scream witch hunt, which
is exactly what they did to Clinton. The release of the secret memos, which are very
damning is a little suspicious, and makes me wonder if Obama and Holder are letting
public revulsion build to where the public is demanding an investigation, and the only
place the republicans can find sympathy is in the dictionary, between two other choice
words. I find it hard to believe that a constitutional lawyer, like Obama, would want it
swept under the carpet.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Paul Peete
Proud to be Progressive!
10:19 PM on 03/08/2009
Well stated, and he is also an accomplished chess player! We just have to make sure we do our jobs too!
07:28 PM on 03/08/2009
Good evening Arianna,
Let me see if I understand this correctly.... Bush's Brain wants to be sure he doesn't find himself embroiled in a "show trial" and according to White Hous counsel Craig, President Obama is "sympathetic' to those who seek the truth, but doesn't want to do anything that would weaken the presidency?
Please, Please, Please..if you get the chance, let those in power including the President know that what may seem to "protect the office of the president", upon Second Glance, "may weaken the republic".
Have a great week,
Vince
07:38 PM on 03/08/2009
Greg Craig was the lawyer involved in Karl Rove's book deal. Got irony? You just can't make this sh#t up.
06:52 PM on 03/08/2009
Exactly, Arianna. The only way we're to ever know the truth IS by "weakening the powers of the President". President Obama can't claim to operate in transparency and refute the "unitary executive" on one hand and use the very same powers to obfuscate and continue the same policies that the criminal Bush administration did. The pentagon, tribal Republicans, complicit beltway villagers and the fawning corporate press are boxing Barack into a corner with this trick and if he doesn't break out soon and call BS on all of the outrageous crimes of the last eight years, he's going to be just as guilty by way of "aiding and abetting". That's just what they would love; falling into the trap they're setting. Britain is outraged at the ongoing investigations of their own high officials being culpable in torture and they are not fretting over "bipartisanship" or "looking forward, not back". It's sad to see that other countries are actually following their Rules of Laws and WE DON'T. The rule of kings has returned to our country.
08:23 PM on 03/08/2009
You cannot drive a car unless you look in your rear view mirror.
You cannot be an effective President if you don't look back!
There is evidence of crimes committed by the Bush administration and even Barack Omama
needs to know what they are!
06:36 PM on 03/08/2009
We do not have the right or privilege to "forgive and forget". That is for the dead, maimed, and displaced and their families. We have the unpleasant obligation to hold these people accountable for their malfaesance. If we fail to do this we become accomplices to the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent combatants as well as the direct attempts by the Bush Administration with the full support of the GOP to undermine the US Constitution and nullifying the founding documents. We do not have a choice here. Rove, Cheney, Bush, Condi, the signers of the PNAC documents, and their minions need to be held accountable or it will all happen again.
When the Business Plot, an attempt to engineer an armed coup against the US, was undertaken by Prescott Bush and corporate America Roosevelt failed to hold them accountable and I am certain that failure along with the other scandals the Bush's were involved in directly contributed to the current situation. (Google Business Plot).
Where is Smedly Butler when we need him?
Rove is no patriot....
07:01 PM on 03/08/2009
Nice to hear from someone who knows who Smedley Butler is, and about the attempt to
overthrow FDR. Over the last number of years, with the connivance of Lee Hamilton, we
gave Reagan a pass on the October Surprise, and let Bush Sr. off the hook for perjury on
both the October Surprise and the Iran-Contra affair. I'm afraid all it did was encourage the
republicans to think they could get away with the criminality that Bush-Cheney exhibited.
Unlike McCain, General Smedley Butler was a true American hero, while McCain was
simply a POW who always forgets to mention the other guests of the Hanoi Hilton.
07:26 PM on 03/08/2009
Smedly was a TRUE patriot and hero. He declined the Medal of Honor- TWICE.
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm
06:23 PM on 03/08/2009
With all appurtenant irony, many of the Republican leaders that want Obama's US recovery effort to fail fully supported Bushes multi-billion dollar Iraqi recovery effort.
05:58 PM on 03/08/2009
I forget who said it recently, but for the last six years we have been a dictatorship. Ever since
Reagan we have been establishing an unholy alliance between corporate America and our
government. What most people fail to realize, is that this is the exact definition of fascism. The
secret memos that were released last week, make this abundantly clear.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
SnapShots
Ignorance is not a virtue.
05:26 PM on 03/08/2009
Rove is a pawn. If he were a patriot, he would be first in line saying, "I'll tell you everything in an open public meeting."
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Vere15
Vero nihil verious (nothing truer than truth)
05:26 PM on 03/08/2009
How about Gingrich-Limbaugh 2012 - then they could take all six current or former wives on the campaign trail and try to pursuade those in the Bible Belt that they are not Mormons
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Articulator
08:11 PM on 03/08/2009
But your leaving out Sarah! I guess there's just so many quality republicans to choose from...