Contempt and more

Leahy's committee passed contempt resolutions against Joshua Bolten and Karl Rove. They even enjoyed the support of a couple Republicans. I'll have more today in a forthcoming article, but it should suffice to say that this is a small bit of rather good news during a week in which the Democrats decided that passing Republican spending bills was a better idea than forcing filibusters or, possibly, shutting down the government. You'll excuse me if I kindly disagree.

Update: I'm sure I'll get some incredulous responses from readers (do I still have those?) but I want people to take this idea seriously. The common refrain goes something like "Remember what happened to Newt?" And indeed I do remember what happened to Newt: His party remained in power for about 11 years after the shut down, and he ultimately abdicated his seat several years later because of an mostly-unrelated extra-marital affair fall from grace within his party.

So why not consider this? If it's because leadership is afraid of "looking bad" with out suffering any real consequences beyond, perhaps, slightly tattered prestige... well that's a pitiful excuse. Alternatively, if it's because Democrats believe that federal services should be available at all times, even if it's at the cost of long term damage to the system, then they should make that case. I don't think it's one I agree with, but it'd be better than just handing Bush his money and going home for Christmas.