"i love the smell of a subpoena, in the morning. . .

. . .it smells like. . . victory. . ."

or, "subpoenas are like high-colonics -- they
sure get things a-movin'. . ." he he.

i'll get to the various bi-partisan
letters demanding an accounting for
the deleted R.N.C./white house e-mails
in a moment. . . but -- first-up this
morning -- is an examination of mr.
bush's latest, and most desperate,
attempt to broaden executive privilege.

it would be breath-taking -- if it were
any other presidency -- but this one? par
for the course. . . it's almost yawn-inducing
in its utterly shameless transparency. . .

this morning's new york times reports
that the white house now claims an
"executive privilege" covers what its
staffers do amongst themselves, on their
own time, while working for the republican
national committee. riiiiight.

. . .The clash also seemed to push the White
House and Democrats closer to a serious
confrontation over executive privilege, with
the White House counsel, Fred F. Fielding,
asserting that the administration has control
over countless other e-mail messages that
the Republican National Committee has
archived. Democrats are insisting that they
are entitled to get the e-mail messages
directly from the national committee.

. . .Senator Charles E. Schumer, the New York
Democrat. . . said the Fielding letter “can be
summed up in three words: "We. are.

s t o n e w a l l i n g. . ."

[ed.: emphasis supplied.]

. . .Mr. Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, [also]
issued a tart reply: “The White House position seems
to be that executive privilege not only applies
in the Oval Office, but to the R.N.C. as well.
There is absolutely no basis in law or fact
for such a claim.”. . .

well, i think a little reductio argument
will make the central point -- plainly enough that
even mr. bush will be able to understand it:

erh, i am sorry to be the first to point this
out to you, mr. president, but the whole
R.N.C. "off-the-books" e-mail debacle is what
naturally follows from "outsourcing" your
presidency to karl rove and dick cheney.

look -- EITHER the R.N.C. is a political
organization -- a party -- or, it IS the
presidency, and is subject to all the rules attendant
thereto, including the presidential records act.

but you cannot have it both ways, mr. bush.

you must choose: are you the president,
i.e., do you possess executive privilege?

or is the R.N.C. the presidency, and all R.N.C.
activity is protected by the privilege?

[wait -- whose name was on the ballot
in november of 2004. . . i don't remember.]

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s e g u e
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i'll place the letters in a new post.

comin' right up. . .