It gets nastier inside the beltway
Republicans are justly outraged by the contents of a leaked Democratic memo from the Intelligence committee that outlines a strategy for exposing contradictions between intelligence reports and Bush’s claims about Iraqi weapons programs. However, Josh Marshall raises the point that the Bush administration is taking unprecedented steps to withhold information from Democrats on other issues. ...
Republicans are justly outraged by the contents of a leaked Democratic memo from the Intelligence committee that outlines a strategy for exposing contradictions between intelligence reports and Bush's claims about Iraqi weapons programs. However, Josh Marshall raises the point that the Bush administration is taking unprecedented steps to withhold information from Democrats on other issues. From the Washington Post:
Republicans are justly outraged by the contents of a leaked Democratic memo from the Intelligence committee that outlines a strategy for exposing contradictions between intelligence reports and Bush’s claims about Iraqi weapons programs. However, Josh Marshall raises the point that the Bush administration is taking unprecedented steps to withhold information from Democrats on other issues. From the Washington Post:
The Bush White House, irritated by pesky questions from congressional Democrats about how the administration is using taxpayer money, has developed an efficient solution: It will not entertain any more questions from opposition lawmakers. The decision — one that Democrats and scholars said is highly unusual — was announced in an e-mail sent Wednesday to the staff of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. House committee Democrats had just asked for information about how much the White House spent making and installing the “Mission Accomplished” banner for President Bush’s May 1 speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. The director of the White House Office of Administration, Timothy A. Campen, sent an e-mail titled “congressional questions” to majority and minority staff on the House and Senate Appropriations panels. Expressing “the need to add a bit of structure to the Q&A process,” he wrote: “Given the increase in the number and types of requests we are beginning to receive from the House and Senate, and in deference to the various committee chairmen and our desire to better coordinate these requests, I am asking that all requests for information and materials be coordinated through the committee chairmen and be put in writing from the committee.” He said this would limit “duplicate requests” and help answer questions “in a timely fashion.” It would also do another thing: prevent Democrats from getting questions answered without the blessing of the GOP committee chairmen.
Now, the Democrat inquiry mentioned in the Post is in and of itself a petty request. And if you read the rest of the story, it suggests that this may be only a temporary state of affairs. However, I’m also a strong believer in checks and balances, and this move by the White House is… well… imperial. Worse, it encourages precisely the kind of misbehavior that the Dems displayed in the Intelligence Committee. [Maybe this is Rove’s brilliant strategery — drive the Democrats so crazy that they act rashly and stupidly!–ed. Possible, but still irresponsible. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — I don’t like it when one party is rendered completely incapable of competent policy articulation.]
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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