Here We Go Again

Here's a big surprise: the White House is refusing to comply with the subpoenas from the Congress.

Bush rejected subpoenas for documents from former presidential counsel Harriet Miers and former political director Sara Taylor. The White House made clear neither one would testify next month, as directed by the subpoenas.

Presidential counsel Fred Fielding said Bush had made a reasonable attempt at compromise but Congress forced the confrontation by issuing subpoenas. "With respect, it is with much regret that we are forced down this unfortunate path which we sought to avoid by finding grounds for mutual accommodation."

The assertion of executive privilege was the latest turn in increasingly hostile standoffs between the administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress over the Iraq war, executive power, the war on terror and Vice President Dick Cheney's authority. A day earlier, the Senate Judiciary Committee delivered subpoenas to the offices of Bush, Cheney, the national security adviser and the Justice Department about the administration's warrantless wiretapping program.

For those of you who missed out on all the fun of Watergate, this is the same battle between the White House and Congress that served as the overture to the events that brought about the resignation of Richard Nixon in August 1974. The president insisted that he was above the law; Congress insisted that they were entitled to the information. The president claimed that it would erode the power of the presidency; the Congress and the voters decided that they could live with that. Nixon lost; we won.

So here we go again. But this time we don't have likes of the Senate Watergate Committee with Senator Sam Ervin and his colorful metaphors and folksy humor. There's no former White House aide like John Dean willing to testify before the committee and risk jail for telling the truth about what happened. There are no such conscience-stricken souls in this White House; they sold themselves off long ago. That may make things drag out a little longer, and perhaps it won't be as entertaining, but the outcome will be the same: they'll lose, and we'll win.