mordant wit

The Bush administration: Strong on national defense, fucking pussies when it comes to Senate hearings. Now they tell us Condi will testify under oath to the 9/11 commission. Well, that was easy. Here I was thinking we were dealing with an administration that really believed in the Constitution! Indeed, 'White House has maintained that a member of the president's staff can't appear before a congressionally chartered commission without violating the Constitution's separation of powers.' And Scott McClellan has been steadfast in his conviction that, well, it's the principle of the thing:

March 9: 'Again, this is not her personal preference; this goes back to a matter of principle. There is a separation of powers issue involved here. Historically, White House staffers do not testify before legislative bodies. So it's a matter of principle, not a matter of preference.' [WhiteHouse.gov]

March 17: 'I think this has been previously addressed. It's not a matter of personal preference. You have to look at it as a matter of principle and a separation of powers issue.' [WhiteHouse.gov]

March 22: 'Again, it's not something that's a matter of personal preference. It's a matter of separation of powers. It's a matter of principle.' [WhiteHouse.gov]

March 23: 'There's a principle involved here regarding separation of powers. And I think we previously addressed that, and we've addressed that from the get-go when it comes to this issue. It's not a matter of Dr. Rice's personal preference. It's a matter of principle.' [WhiteHouse.gov]

And you know why they didn't want to fuck with the Constitution, right? Well, they were saving it for marriage.