Searching A Congressmans Office

Prominent republicans have now raised a furor over the searching of Congressman William Jefferson's office, which indeed was unprecedented. I found two of their statements especially infuriating.

First up is Newt Gingrich who said the raid was, "the most blatant violation of the Constitutional Separation of Powers in my lifetime." Newt has a remarkable vocabulary for somebody who must have only been born last Saturday. This is far, far, far from the worst violation the separation of powers that the Bush administration has perpetrated on this country. I could make a list, but you know the big ones.

The other comes from Dennis Hastert who was quoted as saying, "The actions of the Justice Department in seeking and executing this warrant raise important constitutional issues," House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said in a statement last night. ''I expect to seek a means to restore the delicate balance of power among the branches of government that the founders intended.''

First things first, Hastert and the other republicans who are now running the country have no right to use the phrase founders intent, they have forfeited it. If the founding fathers could be resurrected to see how the current republicans are running the country, the first thing they would do is march on the Treasury Department to demand we take their faces off of our fucking money.

Secondly, Hastert, and everyone else in Congress has no one to blame but themselves. Civil liberties always sit on a slippery slope, and Hastert and the rest of the republicans have spent the last five years icing down the track for the Bush administration, so don't piss and moan to me when someone from the executive branch cock punches you as they race by you on a fast moving sled. Did you really think they were going to stop at the rest of our civil liberties? If you did, you're either awfully smug, or just plain stupid.

Sadly though, Hastert is also correct, this is a violation of the separation of powers. I'm sure it was meant as a wake-up call to Jefferson, who seems more plainly guilty than even Bob Ney, but it is only a short stop down the slope to raiding offices for political means, probably under the guise of national security.

And while I indulge in some schadenfreude watching these guys get pissy about suffering the same intrusions that we the people have for the last few years, I also do hope that this shakes the tree hard enough to get them to stand up not just for their rights, but ours as well. Of course, the odds on that are roughly the same as Barbaro coming back to win the Belmont. We must rid ourselves of these assholes come November.