Editorial: Special prosecutor, or ... (Sac Bee)

[struggle4progress]

Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, May 26, 2007
Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B6

~snip~ The mention of voter fraud conjures up images of deceitful voters knowingly and willingly voting illegally, or of sleazy political operatives stuffing ballot boxes and paying voters for toeing the party line. But in this instance, the phrase seems to refer to high-level officials in the Bush administration using the machinery of government to corrupt the electoral process.

This is a serious matter calling for investigation by an outside special counsel. But there's the rub. Since the independent counsel act expired in 1999, it's up to the attorney general to order an investigation. And Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is up to his eyeballs in this mess. He has obvious and irreconcilable conflicts of interest in investigating administration officials.

Of course, Gonzales could recuse himself (either on his own initiative or with prodding from the president) and have a deputy delegate to a special counsel all the authority of the attorney general. This was done in the 2003 appointment of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald to investigate allegations of unauthorized disclosure of a CIA employee's identity. It should be done now to assure an independent investigation. ~snip~

http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/194474.html

[acmavm]

1. Think that'll happen?

Neither do I. Especially the part about Gonzalez recusing himself. I think that was put in for some comic relief.

[struggle4progress]

2. Course ain't neither W nor Gonzo gonna do the right thang voluntary. But ...

... there's another piece to the puzzle: Publicans planning 08 campaigns is gonna be gettin more and more nervous twitches as time rolls by -- and while they twitch, we should label their inaction as evidence of what their party stands for.

[acmavm]

3. If those bastards were worried about 2008 the obscene Iraq funding

bill would have died in its tracks Thursday.

[struggle4progress]

4. Oh, the R's are worried about Iraq, but they're still hoping that they can keep their Ship of Fools

afloat by sticking together: it's the one game they know. Continuing grassroots action on such issues has a good chance of leaving them in splinters.