Day: May 25, 2006

62 to 36. The rhinos are posing for the cameras as we speak.

Now, our hope lies with the will of House members who oppose amnesty. Do they have the guts to stand firm?

Guilty.

Duh.

Did we really expect anything else?

After cries of protest from Republicans and Democrats alike, the president ordered that documents belonging to Rep. William Jefferson and seized by the FBI be sealed for 45 days.

The president directed that no one involved in the investigation have access to the documents under seal and that they remain in the custody of the solicitor general.

Bush’s move was described as an attempt to reach a cooling off period in a heated confrontation between his administration and leaders of the House and Senate.

“This period will provide both parties more time to resolve the issues in a way that ensures that materials relevant to the ongoing criminal investigation are made available to prosecutors in a manner that respects the interests of a coequal branch of government,” Bush said.

In a statement, Bush said he recognized that Republican and Democratic leaders in the House had “deeply held views” that the search on Rep. William Jefferson’s Capitol Hill office violated the Constitution’s separation of powers principles. But he stopped short of saying he agreed with them.

“Our government has not faced such a dilemma in more than two centuries,” the president said. “Yet after days of discussions, it is clear these differences will require more time to be worked out.”

This is a good move by Bush. He smartly stays away from picking sides and takes the role of mediator-in-chief.

Republicans have often been a favorite target of the Congressional Black Caucus, but rarely has a Democrat been caught in their sights. Last evening, the CBC cornered House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and pulled out their can of whupass.

Furious black lawmakers, rallying behind Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), were pulled back from the brink of open revolt against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in an emergency meeting with her Wednesday evening.

The meeting with a handful of CBC members was called after Pelosi wrote the embattled lawmaker, who is at the center of a massive bribery scandal, a curt note requesting his immediate resignation from the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

Outraged that one of its members was being picked on even though he has not been charged with a crime, the Congressional Black Caucus had intended to issue a defiant statement against their leader but agreed after the meeting to pause, at least briefly, for reflection.

But that reflection seems short lived.

Members of the CBC are expected to confront Pelosi today in a meeting that was previously scheduled to address separate concerns about Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.). That meeting is now likely to focus more on Jefferson, a Democratic aide said.

With 43 members, the CBC is a formidable force in the 202-member Democratic caucus and one Pelosi is unusually reluctant to antagonize. Should Democrats take the House, the CBC would control four, and possibly five, committee chairmanships.

Democrats are a fractious group. How can they expect to lead and do the right things for America if they can’t even get along with one another? Pelosi was right to confront Jefferson, and she should keep the pressure on. If she wilts whenever a member of the CBC glances her way, that’s a pretty good indicator of the type of House Speaker she’ll be.

But we won’t have to worry about that, right?