It's Morning in America Again

In addition to the Libby conviction, today is the day that Senate Judiciary Committee opened hearings on the recent purge of US Attorneys by the Justice Department. Josh Marshall describes these hearings as the most riveting congressional hearings since Anita Hill testified in the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings.

Paul Kiel at TPMmuckraker.com writes about a key moment in the hearings:

During his questioning, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) asked all four prosecutors that if they were told by a witness in an ongoing investigation that he had received a call similar to the one Bud Cummins got from Michael Elston, the chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, what would they think? All four said that they would investigate to see whether obstruction of justice or witness tampering had occurred.

Yes, that's right: Abu Gonzales's Justice Department has actively engaged in obstruction of justice and witness tampering in response to a political crisis. Not only is the gun smoking, but here are the powder burns, and the spent shell casings are here, here, and here on the floor.

As Josh Marshall puts it, running the administration as a criminal enterprise is much harder when the opposition controls Congress.

Ever since November's elections we have been waiting for the hearings investigating Bush Administration misdeeds to begin. They have begun, and the bombshells are bursting in the air. It's morning in America again. Our long national nightmare is coming to an end.