(Photo: Treasure of the Sierra Madre; Photoillustration: Evan Robinson, Group News Blog)One of the overarching themes of the Bush administration has been absolute contempt for the rule of law. Bush aides and White House officials have refused to honor subpoenas from Congress. Bush himself has altered 1100 laws or sections of laws using extra-constitutional "signing statements". Many of these signing statements include specific objections to any congressional oversight over the Executive branch at all. Bush just ignored FISA and decided to wiretap anybody he wanted to.
We now see how a McCain/Palin administration would compare:
Todd Palin was among 13 people subpoenaed by the Alaska legislature. McCain-Palin presidential campaign spokesman Ed O'Callaghan announced yesterday that Mr Palin would not appear...
According to the Alaska Daily News, Governor Palin said in July that she would cooperate fully with an investigation:
Sharon Leighow, the governor's spokeswoman, said Palin "doesn't see a need for a formal investigation," but is willing to answer questions.
"The governor has said all along that she will fully cooperate with an investigation and her staff will cooperate as well," Leighow said.
But now we see that Palin (with McCain's backing) has decided to ignore legally presented subpoenas:
It is illegal in the State of Alaska to fail to comply with legislative subpoenas. But Todd Palin has announced he will do exactly that which the law prohibits for one simple reason -- because nothing can be done about it until after the election, and even then, it's unlikely much will be done to punish him for breaking the law. Sarah Palin has similarly ordered all of her aides to refuse to comply with these subpoenas even though doing so is illegal, because she, too, doubts there will be consequences for this illegal behavior. Or, as Bill O'Reilly put it in his righteous Rule of Law tirade: "I'm going to do it anyway. I dare you to come get me."
There is no doubt that the Legislature has the right to investigate and that these Subpoenaas are lawfully issued. Before Palin was selected as McCain's running mate, virtually everyone in Alaska -- including her -- agreed that the Legislature could and should investigate these allegations.
Republicans simply believe that the law doesn't actually apply to them.
That makes them ineligible for high office.
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