Pelosi figures it out

Let Bush try to claim “executive privilege” in connection with impeachment hearings.

So Karl Rove blows off yet another subpoena.* And Nancy Pelosi allows as how there might be hearings on Kucinich’s impeachment resolution.

Coincidence? Or has someone finally figured out that the claim of executive privilege is at its least plausible in the context of impeachment?

None of the arguments against actually taking an impeachment resolution to a vote &#8212 even if it passed, the Senate would clearly acquit, and even if the Senate convicted, we’d just wind up with President Cheney instead. (Or maybe President McCain instead: Bush and Cheney are impeached together, Cheney resigns “for the good of the country” and Bush nominates McCain for VP. The Senate confirms. Bush resigns or is convicted. McCain gets to run as the incumbent) &#8212 applies to holding hearings. Anything that pushes Republican corruption to the front pages between now and election day is good news.

*Footnote How completely in the tank for the Republicans is the AP? A subpoena isn’t issued, and a Congressional investigation isn’t conducted, by “Congressional Democrats,” as the story says not once but three times. A subpoena voted by a Congressional committee has exactly the same legal standing as a subpoena issued by a judge. The story makes it sound as if Rove is engaged in partisan warfare rather than defiance of the law.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com