White House raps Hill probes

Over 300 investigations in 100 days.

WASHINGTON - The White House on Thursday pushed back against congressional
investigations of the Bush administration and said lawmakers should spend more
time passing bills to solve domestic problems.

In
a constitutional showdown with Congress, the administration claimed executive
privilege and rejected demands for White House documents about the firings of
eight U.S. attorneys.
The House and Senate Judiciary committees have set a
deadline of 10 a.m. next Monday for the White House to explain its basis for the
claim.

The administration has not said when or if it will respond. Spokesman
Scott Stanzel said Thursday the White House has received a many requests for
information since Democrats took control of Congress in January and has turned
over 200,000 pages of documents.
"They've launched over 300 investigations,
had over 350 requests for documents and interviews and they have had over 600
oversight hearings in just about 100 days," Stanzel said.
Democrats were
dubious of the figures but did not offer their own.

"His numbers are as faulty as the intelligence they used to make their
case for war," said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid, D-Nev.
"In the last six years, all they've had is a rubber-stamp
Congress. Since January, Democrats have demanded accountability, a change of
course and transparency," Manley said.

Stanzel said he arrived at the numbers by canvassing departments and
agencies about the number of inquires and investigations initiated by Congress
since the Democrats took control.
The assertion of executive privilege was
the latest turn in an increasingly hostile standoff over the Iraq war, executive
power, the war on terror and Vice President Dick Cheney's authority.

Subpoenas have been delivered to the offices of Bush, Cheney, the
national security adviser and the Justice Department about the administration's
warrantless wiretapping program.
In a letter to Congress last week, White
House counsel Fred Fielding said the administration had rejected subpoenas for
documents through the claim of executive privilege. That letter also made it
clear that neither former presidential counsel Harriet Miers nor former White
House political director Sara Taylor would testify on Capitol Hill next week, as
directed by the subpoenas.

Stanzel said Congress has "a lot to show in terms of activity and
requests and letter-writing, and that sort of thing, but not much to show in the
way of real legislation."

The Bush-haters have been busy. I'm embarassed to have voted democrat in the past. "Right and wrong" is not the basis for these witch hunts, it's merely a result of years of obstructionism and the "get Bush" mentality gone unchecked.

So much for what the people want.