The 'Witch Hunt' Begins

Considering how Scooter Libby got hosed I can certainly understand why Monica Goodling, the Justice Department's White House liaison, has no desire to go before the Senate Judiciary committee. She sees it for what it is – a witch hunt.

Had the eight US Attorneys been fired by a Democratic president none of this would be happening. This is nothing more than BDS taken to an ever larger extreme.

Sad to say, this is one more unfortunate result of the Beltway's modern habit of criminalizing political differences, a la the Scooter Libby travesty. Congress has the right to conduct oversight of the executive, and in a better world government officials would be willing to testify and give as good as they get. Thus would the public be educated about the facts and policy differences be aired.

But Ms. Goodling has been around, and she can see Democrats don't really want to know the truth; they want to shout "liar, liar" and set the stage to accuse Justice officials of criminal behavior. In a statement to the committee explaining her decision, Ms. Goodling said, "I have read public remarks by members of both the House and Senate Committees on the Judiciary in which those members have drawn conclusions about the subject matter and the testimony now under investigation by the Committee." We've read them, too.

(emphasis mine)

This is all about payback for slights real and perceived, mostly the latter. Like any 'investigation' it can be turned into an inquisition that will find wrongdoing even where none exists. Reputations will be destroyed for the sake of exercising power. And if the Democrats think there won't be a backlash, they are sadly mistaken. Should they continue to pursue this course of action they may well find that the American public will see them for what they are, and that will mean that they could end up handing both chambers of Congress back to the GOP. It cold also spell doom for the Democrats in the race for the White House.