Changing the Subject -- Back

As University of Baltimore Law Professor Charles Tiefer wrote on the NiemanWatchdog.org Web site earlier this year, Congress's oversight role -- its "informing function" -- has often been considered even more important than its legislating one.

But here's a quote from Reid yesterday: "The Republican Senate does no oversight. None. None. It's all part of a plan. They obstruct, they take orders from the White House, they do nothing without getting orders from the White House."

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) also had some choice words: "I have to say in all honesty that I am troubled by what I see as a concerted effort by this administration to use its influence to limit, delay, to frustrate, to deny the Intelligence Committee's oversight work into the intelligence reporting and activities leading up to the invasion of Iraq. . . .

"At some point the majority needs to understand that we are willing to bring the Senate to a halt until they will join us in conducting the kind of investigation this situation demands."

Baker's Questions

Washington Post White House correspondent Peter Baker was Live Online yesterday, not just answering question, but posing some himself.

"I can think of lots of questions to ask the president when he deems to take them again," Baker wrote.

"1) Did Karl Rove tell you the truth about the CIA leak and did you tell the American people the truth?

"2) A variant: What did you know and when did you know it?

"3) You promised in your first campaign to clean up Washington. 'In my administration,' you told voters in Pittsburgh in October 2000, 'we will ask not only what is legal but what is right, not what the lawyers allow but what the public deserves.' Do you think your White House has lived up to that standard in this episode?

"4) You promised to fire anyone involved in the leak and your spokesman said anyone involved would no longer work in the administration. Last week's indictment makes clear that Official A, identified as Karl Rove, was involved. Are you going to fire Karl Rove?

"5) Even giving Scooter Libby the benefit of the doubt legally, do you approve of the conduct that has now been documented?"

Has Bush Lost His Way?

Ron Fournier writes for the Associated Press: "The building blocks of President Bush's career -- his credibility and image as a strong and competent leader -- have been severely undercut by self-inflicted wounds, leading close allies to fret about his presidency. They say he's lost his way.