« Interesting discussion of the proposed small arms treaty | Main | contempt vote nears on Holder »
Fast and Furious: down to who blinks first
The contempt vote is tomorrow... and Eric Holder is asking to negotiate.
· BATFE
5 Comments | Leave a comment
What exactly is the source of the reluctance of the House Republicans to vote for contempt? They've been postponing the vote for months now, which makes it seem like they're afraid to have the vote. Is it that if they do vote him in contempt there's really nothing they can do to him? (Congress doesn't really have its own LEOs who go arrest people and put 'em in jail in the House basement, do they?) I don't understand why they didn't have the contempt vote the day after he first failed to deliver what was demanded.
take no prisoners!
I would think that the main reason to delay is so that this comes to a head in October. Bonus points if they can implicate Obama just before the election.
What exactly is the source of the reluctance of the House Republicans to vote for contempt?
Well, part of it is that the House leadership has the modern Republican instinct for going after the capillary.
Gingrich vs. Clinton, impeachment, etc. also apparently left a deep impression, that Republicans will lose any PR battle of this sort. Which the above instinct pretty much ensures.
Part of this is also like FDR's problem with Southern Democrats; they were in power in the Congress because of seniority, and they had that because they were survivors of the post-Civil War and post-Wilson eras. The selection pressures on the Republican leadership in both houses of the Congress, what they did and who they are to have to stayed in office this long, obviously carries over to when they find themselves in positions of theoretical power.
NOW he wants to talk?