Round Up The Marshalls For Rove; Cuff Him, Stuff In A Van and Lock The S.O.B Up!

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Rove Contempt Vote Not To Come Until Later This Month

The Politico) The House Judiciary Committee is not likely to vote on a contempt resolution against Karl Rove until late this month, according to the panel's chairman.

Rove, the former White House deputy chief of staff and top political advisor to President Bush, refused to appear today before a subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee to testify on the "politicization" of the Justice Department under the current administration. Citing a claim of executive privilege by Bush, Rove did not show up for today's hearing despite a committee subpoena.

Conyers and Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Commercial and Administrative Law subcommittee, rejected Rove's executive privilege claim as inadequate.

"Mr. Rove's absence today is an insult to the American people and to the system of checks and balances that are the basis of our constitution and our democracy," Conyers said in a statement.

"Mr. Rove is not above the law and Congress will assert its constitutional role to serve as a check on the power of the executive branch," Sanchez added.

The Judiciary Committee could approve both civil and criminal contempt resolutions against Rove, which would then go to the floor of the House for a final vote.

But the Judiciary Committee is already in a legal battle with the Bush administration over earlier subpoenas issued to White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers. Although the House approved criminal-contempt resolutions against both, the Justice Dept., citing earlier legal opinions, refused to bring criminal charges against Bolten and Miers. The Judiciary Committee then filed a civil lawsuit against the White House to enforce the subpoenas. The case is now in federal court, and it is unclear if there will be an decision in the case prior to the start of the August recess.

Rove stiffs House panel. Contempt citation next?

This is one of those stories about something that didn't happen. In this case, the lack of someone showing up is the news.

He's been gone from the White House for a while, but surely you remember the chief political advisor whom President Bush called the architect of his 2004 reelection -- and also "Turd Blossom"?

To no one's surprise, that same Karl Rove failed to answer a subpoena to testify before a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing today.

That didn't stop the staff of the subcommittee from placing a placard with his name on it in front of an empty chair at the witness table, according to the Associated Press.

The panel wanted to hear from Rove in its investigation of whether politics played into prosecutorial and other decisions at the Justice Department.

He was subpoenaed in May to get him to talk about whether he exerted pressure on prosecutors' decisions regarding Democratic officeholders -- most notably former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman -- or in firing prosecutors whose political loyalty to the Bush administration was being questioned.

Next up: A decision on whether he should be cited for contempt. That decision will be made by the full Judiciary Committee and, ultimately, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco).

But according to the AP, demonstrators behind the empty witness table have already decided. A number of them called for his arrest.

Rove ignores subpoena, refuses to testify on Hill

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House adviser Karl Rove defied a congressional subpoena and refused to testify Thursday about allegations of political pressure at the Justice Department, including whether he influenced the prosecution of a former Democratic governor of Alabama.

Rep. Linda Sanchez, chairman of a House subcommittee, ruled with backing from fellow Democrats on the panel that Rove was breaking the law by refusing to cooperate — perhaps the first step toward holding him in contempt of Congress.

The White House has cited executive privilege as a reason he and others who serve or served in the administration should not testify, arguing that internal administration communications are confidential and that Congress cannot compel officials to testify. Rove says he is bound to follow the White House's guidance, although he has offered to answer questions specifically on the Siegelman case — but only with no transcript taken and not under oath.

Lawmakers subpoenaed Rove in May in an effort to force him to talk about whether he played a role in prosecutors' decisions to pursue cases against Democrats, such as former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, or in firing federal prosecutors considered disloyal to the Bush administration.

Rove had been scheduled to appear at the House Judiciary subcommittee hearing Thursday morning. A placard with his name sat in front of an empty chair at the witness table, with a handful of protesters behind it calling for Rove to be arrested.

A decision on whether to pursue contempt charges now goes to the full Judiciary Committee and ultimately to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

House Republicans called Thursday's proceedings a political stunt and said if Democrats truly wanted information they would take Rove up on an offer he made to discuss the matter informally.

The House already has voted to hold two of President Bush's confidants in contempt for failing to cooperate with its inquiry into whether the administration fired nine federal prosecutors in 2006 for political reasons.

The case, involving White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers, is in federal court and may not be resolved before Bush's term ends in January.

Democrats have rejected the offer from Rove to talk with them informally because the testimony would not be sworn and, they say, could create a confusing record.

Rove has insisted publicly that he never tried to influence Justice Department decisions and was not even aware of the Siegelman prosecution until it landed in the news.

Siegelman — an unusually successful Democrat in a heavily Republican state — was charged with accepting and concealing a contribution to his campaign to start a state education lottery, in exchange for appointing a hospital executive to a regulatory board.

He was sentenced last year to more than seven years in prison but was released in March when a federal appeals court ruled Siegelman had raised "substantial questions of fact and law" in his appeal.

Siegelman and others have alleged the prosecution was pushed by GOP operatives — including Rove, a longtime Texas strategist who was heavily involved in Alabama politics before working at the White House. A former Republican campaign volunteer from Alabama told congressional attorneys last year that she overheard conversations suggesting that Rove pressed Justice officials in Washington to prosecute Siegelman.

The career prosecutors who handled Siegelman's case have insisted that Rove had nothing to do with it, emphasizing that the former governor was convicted by a jury.

All You Would Want To Know….

Why Don’t You Tell Us How You Really Feel?

Tom D'Antoni (I think Tom is pissed; what do you think?)

It's Outrageous That Rove Is Walking Free

Let's say I received a subpoena from the Justice Department today telling me I had to testify about matters it considered vital to national security.

Let's say I told them, "I could give a rat's ass about your subpoena, blow me."

What do you think would happen?

I would be in Guantanamo dining on that "cockmeat sandwich" that Harold and Kumar avoided.

So why is Karl Rove walking around free today? Because the Democrats talk a good game but when it comes to taking action, they fail time and time again.

It's simple. Congress tells you that you have to testify? You testify. It's the law. Period.

It doesn't take an epiphany to know that the Bush administration could care less about the law, the Constitution, morality, or life itself.

Where's the action by Congress to enforce its own subpoena? Where is justice? Where is the Democratic leadership? Send some cops, cuff Rove, march him to the hearing and if he refuses to talk, lock him up till he does.

Matter of fact, send him to Guantanamo. He'll confess to everything from car theft to murdering Jon Benet Ramsey. He looks soft, anyway.

What is most astounding is how incredibly far the Democrats in Congress are behind the curve of where the public is at on this and so many other issues.

Joe Lieberman must go? Steny Hoyer is the Congressman who must go first.

Grins at the White House on wiretap bill