Legislate-- From Dictionary.com-1. to exercise the function of legislation; make or enact laws.
Keep that in mind as you read this post.
From The Hill:
The White House Thursday raised questions about the level of Democratic oversight, saying that the time the majority spends on investigating the Bush administration could be used to pass bills.
Bush spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters during the daily briefing that the White House has been subject to an average of about six oversight hearings a day since Democrats took control of Congress. In that time, he added, the administration has turned over 200,000 pages of documents.Said Stanzel: “I would raise those issues because it raises the question, what does Congress want to do? Do they want to pass legislation for the American people or would they rather investigate and have politics be the course of the day?
“I would say they have 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, whether it’s legislation on healthcare, education, comprehensive immigration reform,” Stanzel added. He also noted that Democrats have so far passed only six major bills.
The latest witch hunt is headed by John Conyers as he has announced yet another, worthless, time wasting, tax payer funded fiasco, into the commuting of Scooter Libby's sentence.
Lets point out that Conyers already admits that commuting Libby's sentence is within the powers vested in the president by the Constitution.
Conyers said he doesn't think President Bush acted outside his constitutional authority in commuting Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence, but he questions the use of that authority.
Article II, Section 2 states:
Section 2. The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.
I have highlighted the portion relevant.
Stanzel's full quote from the White House:
MR. STANZEL: Well, we always respond appropriately to the inquiries. I would note that we do get a lot of inquiries from the Hill. They've launched over 300 investigations, had over 350 requests for documents and interviews --
Q Since January?
MR. STANZEL: Since taking over, yes. And they have had over 600 oversight hearings in just about 100 days -- so that's about six oversight hearings a day. And we've turned over 200,000 pages of documents as an administration. And in that time, what they have to show for it, if you're taking a generous look at it, is six bills -- six major bills passed.
We'll always respond appropriately, and look forward to reviewing that letter, but I guess I would raise those issues because it raises the question, what does Congress want to do -- do they want to pass legislation for the American people or would they rather investigate and have politics be the course of the day?
All that and what conclusions have they come to? NONE.
A simple waste of time and money, OUR money, I might add.
As the NRO points out:
The Founders would be bemused at this, since — inconveniently for the Scooter-must-hang left — they included the pardon power in the Constitution. There it is in Article II, Section 2: The president “shall have the power to grant reprieves and pardons.” They didn’t include a proviso that the power shall not extend to persons vilified by left-wing bloggers as the personification of “the case for war.”
Bush can hardly create a constitutional crisis by exercising a plenary constitutional power, and doing it in a way that has become almost routine. The first President Bush pardoned former CIA official Clair George (convicted of lying to Congress), former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger (indicted for perjury), and former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane (pled guilty to withholding information from Congress). Like the current Bush’s commutation, these Iran-contra pardons violated the Justice-department guidelines. And somehow, the republic survived.
President Clinton pardoned or commuted the sentences of former Arkansas operator Susan McDougal (jailed for myriad offenses); former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros (caught up in an interminable independent-counsel investigation about whether he lied to the FBI); former CIA Director John Deutch (in the midst of a plea bargain over his mishandling of classified material); and eight people connected to the scandal around former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy (all of whom had been convicted of or pled guilty to illegal acts).
This leaves aside Clinton’s truly egregious pardons and commutations: sixteen Puerto Rican terrorists over the opposition of the FBI and the Federal Bureau of Prisons; the international fugitive Marc Rich; one man convicted of mail fraud and perjury and another convicted of cocaine trafficking, each of whom had paid $200,000 to Hillary Clinton’s brother Hugh Rodman to represent them.
We have shown you a list obtained from the Department of Justice showing just the pardons given out by Clinton himself in January of 2001.
Now, after reading all of that and noticing some of the criminals that Bill Clinton pardoned before leaving office, please remember that this is just January 2001's list, not the 400+that he pardoned over his full two terms.
Cocaine and crack dealers, armed bank robbers are included, just to name a few. Go through that list and then notice the name I marked in red... Marc Rich:Marc Rich (born Marc David Reich on December 18, 1934) is an international commodities trader. He fled the United States in 1983 to live in Switzerland while being prosecuted on charges of tax evasion and illegally making oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis.
He received a presidential pardon from United States President Bill Clinton in 2001, which required him to pay a $100 million fine before the charges would be dropped.
So, once again, they would rather investigate a non issue, which Conyers himself has already admitted was fully within the presidents powers, to avoid having to do the job they were elected to do, which is to legislate.
Legislate-- From Dictionary.com-1. to exercise the function of legislation; make or enact laws.
Now I will admit that the 100th Congress, Democratically controlled HAS managed to rename quite a few postal offices, recreation centers and courthouses, but I doubt many will argue with me when I say, these aren't exactly the type of legislating, we the people, expect them to do.
Red State makes this point:
It really is silly, as the Constitution grants the power to pardon and reprieve with no limit. It is a waste of time and public resources for a political show designed to help the Democrats capture the White House despite a paucity of seriousness in its candidates and to keep the Congress despite a lack of accomplishment and promises kept.
[...]
Perhaps there is a sort of Constitutional Crisis, though; after all, the Framers made no provisions or recourse if the Congressional majority has gone insane.
HEH. Good point.
*****I am certainly not surprised that Congress has an approval rating now of 16% and it keeps dropping month after month.******
Perhaps the reason Congress is trying to keep so busy with investigations to keep their far left liberal base happy is because they have found that they are truly incompetent and incapable of doing their real job, which is enacting laws and legislating and I will even take this a step further, given their bad decisions and their incompetence, maybe, we the people, should be happy they are not doing their job and instead are chasing their tails like good little lapdogs, because could you imagine what kind of laws this "Keystone Congress" would pass if they were actually trying to do their job?
With all this said, I would like to give the Democrats the Keystone Congress Tournament Award for doing the Conservatives and Republicans around the country the biggest favor of all;
Proving to "the people" how utterly horrible this 100th Congress is as well as being weak and pathetic on National Security, before the 2008 elections.
So, without further ado:
The KeyStone Congress Tournament Award.
They have earned it.
(NOTE: For those that are too young to remember the Keystone Cops, a quick reference for you: The Keystone Cops was a series of silent film comedies featuring an incompetent group of policemen produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917.)
.