Bush Dares Congress to Bring It On

Must See TV: Bush stamps his feet at a press appearance today and draws a line in the sand about his people answering questions on the prosecutor purge. Rove, Gonzales, Miers, etc. can testify before Congress BUT:

• not under oath
• only behind closed doors
• no video or transcripts allowed

Of course, he's merely trying to stop Democrats from making purely political points without substance, and he doesn't want all those "kleig lights" (he says) pointing at his people. He is, after all, only protecting the Executive Branch so that it can do a good job for the people. He will go to the mat on this and warns Congress to refrain from issuing subpoenas to try and force the testimony under oath. Or else. Democrats, we're waiting. Still keeping your powder dry for the big confrontations? Still insisting that "impeachment is off the table"?

This post on Kos considers the constitutional and legal options available to Congress. Here's what Leahy and Conyers are saying. Constitutional crisis here we come. Unless the Dems back down, of course. By the way, many Executive Branch folks have testified before Congress. According to Think Progress:

Democrats, citing a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, say presidential advisers, including 47 from the Clinton administration alone, have frequently testified before Congressional committees, both while serving the president and after they had left the White House.

Under oath too. As Janet Reno, for one, was forced to do. However, as everyone knows by now, these people weren't working for an all-powerful monarch. The Decider won't have any of it. The scary thing is that if Dems cave on this one, it will set a horrible precedent that will carry over to every single additional investigation they might want to conduct in the next two years. We can't let that happen, can we?