The Senate's Gonzales Afterglow

Maybe it's because they're going on vacation soon and want to get some things done, but Congress has actually been accomplishing things. Sort of. Well, I guess more like setting things up for later.

Another full day to stew over the whole Alberto Gonzales thing has left the Democrats, at least, more upset than ever. Senate Democrats called for an independent counsel to investigate the attorney general for perjury. Of course, the Prez has given Gonzales special dispensation so that he doesn't have to investigate himself if he doesn't want to, so this just takes us a step closer to a constitutional showdown. The White House has been spoiling for a fight for a while now, and it's starting to look like Congress is, too. Calling for a special counsel is not the only action the Dems took today. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman issued subpoenas for Karl Rove and his deputy to appear for testimony next week. This administration can still pull a surprise from time to time, but we all know how we expect the subpoena drama to play out. They won't show, and they'll join Harriet Miers and Josh Bolton in line for contempt of Congress citations. Clearly the White House is not concerned about such things, so Congress will have to back up their actions and prove that they deserve to be an equal branch of government. A constitutional showdown is by no means a sure thing, and I suspect that a fear of failure is behind a lot of Democratic reluctance to engage. But if we have become a country in which the legislative branch is subordinate to the executive branch, we're better becoming aware of that sooner rather than later.