Fear of subpoenas ‘crippling’ the White House?
As she departs the White House, and steps down as Bush’s chief terrorism adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend stopped to tell the NYT how disappointed she is with the political climate in DC.
Promoted to domestic security adviser in 2004, she became a loyalist and said she was leaving wearied by the acrimony that hangs over Mr. Bush’s last year in office.
“I find it both offensive and crippling,” she said. “When both career people and political people are worried about getting subpoenaed, it’s hard to get a lot accomplished.”
Oh, those poor, poor White House officials. If only Congress would go back to ignoring the administration’s scandalous, sometimes criminal, behavior, the president and his aides would find it much easier to go about their business without the fear of accountability. Apparently, we’re supposed to feel sorry for the whole bunch.
But does the Bush gang really find all of this really “offensive and crippling”? What’s offensive about congressional oversight?
For that matter, why is it that executive-branch officials, who presumably aren’t doing anything wrong, feel “crippled” by the fear that they may be asked to account for the decisions?
It just sounds so ridiculous, I’m surprised a top White House official would even say this on the record.
Besides, if the Bush gang really wants to talk about “offensive and crippling” subpoenas from Congress, let’s not forget how Republicans ran (.pdf) the House Oversight Committee in the 1990s.
Before the Republicans took control of Congress in 1995, congressional authority to issue subpoenas was viewed as a serious power to be exercised judiciously. From at least as far back as the McCarthy era in the 1950s to the Republican takeover in 1995, no Democratic committee chairman issued a subpoena without either consent from the minority or a committee vote. This long-standing tradition of restraint was abandoned, however, during the congressional investigations of the Clinton Administration.
The Government Reform Committee is the primary investigative committee in the House of Representatives. During the Clinton Administration, the chairman of this Committee unilaterally issued over 1,000 subpoenas to investigate allegations of misconduct involving the Clinton Administration and the Democratic Party. The Committee issued 1,089 subpoenas during the six years that Dan Burton served as chairman from 1997 through 2002. During this period, 1,052 of the Committee’s subpoenas – 97% – targeted officials of the Clinton Administration and the Democratic Party; only 11 subpoenas related to allegations of Republican abuses. (emphasis added)
Burton handed out subpoenas like candy. He subpoenaed 141 different Clintonites. He held hearings — for 10 days — on the Clintons’ Christmas card list. In one instance, Burton was so reckless, he subpoenaed the wrong man (looking for someone with a similar name). In another instance, Burton fired a bullet into a “head-like object” — reportedly a melon — in his backyard to test the theory that former White House counsel Vincent Foster was murdered (this from the man who is now warning against “sensational disclosures”).
But Frances Fragos Townsend thinks it’s “offensive and crippling” for Congress to expect the White House to explain matters such as the politicization of the Justice Department and the destruction of CIA evidence of torture.
It’s as if lawmakers have it in their heads that Congress is a co-equal branch of government with oversight responsibilities. The nerve.
Jesus, isn’t a central tenet of the Bush administration’s war on terrorism that if you’re not guilty, you should have no problem with someone secretly looking into your phone calls, e-mails, the books you buy and borrow, etc.? Well, then I have to ask — if Townsend and her fellow “loyal Bushies” have done nothing wrong, then why do they fear oversight?
In a trial, Townsend’s words and actions would be considered “consciousness of guilt” and could be used to demonstrate that she had actually committed a criminal act.
Just like mobsters worry about getting subpoenaed, it’s a legitimate fear when you are complicit in corruption. “Hey, I was just doin’ what the boss ordered.” Townsend is such a wretched human being for her defense of torture. No place in government for a grand inquisitor spokeswomen.
You’re right . Her statements were outlandish for a departing administration employee. “How can we do our jobs if we have to be worried about being scrutinized with intruding oversight? I think it comes from years of waking up to sex and hearing, “Just close your eyes and go back to sleep”.
Don’t let the door hit you in the butt Frances.
The GOP spent millions and hundreds of hours and couldn’t find anything on Clinton but when corruption is running rampant in this administration they complain if someone even dares to point it out. That’s why they deserve no respect…they have no integrity and are hypocritical to the core.
It is so inconvenient following the law.
The underlying assumption here is that Congress has no duty of oversight w/r/t the Executive branch. Has Ms Townsend studied American Government at the middle school level or higher?
It is very difficult to take Fran Townsend seriously when considering her farewell letter to GW Bush.
“In 1937, the playwright Maxwell Anderson wrote of President George Washington: There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, til all men walk on higher ground in their lifetime.”
“Mr. President, you are such man.”
In all seriousness, such fawning gush would be merely annoying coming from a political flack (Mary Matalin or Josh Bolten), but that a career professional could describe Bush in those terms, that said career professional played a signficant role in this country’s national security policy is frightening.
I believe Townsend was Richard Clarke’s deputy. I’ve never heard him comment on her tenure. I’d be curious to hear what he has to say.
Awwww…. Let’s all chip in & buy her a box of tissues. This is touching.
Out of curiosity, how many Bush administration officials has actually responded to a subpoena which they have received?
I can’t believe that bjobotts referred to Townsend as a “human being”. Can scum really be considered a human being? I think ‘human waste’ is more appropriate.
More to the point of how many subpoenas were issued from 1997 to 2002, which is eye-popping in itself, is how many were ignored. I haven’t done the research on that one, but I think the answer is “none.”
Is that because all of the people under subpoena had nothing to hide, or knew they were innocent of whatever role was being ascribed to them? Probably not entirely, although I think it is safe to say that if there was a Congress bent on crippling, it was Dan Burton’s Congress.
Bill Clinton, as with many presidents before him, understood that Congress had a right to get answers to its questions, that it had a constituionally mandated oversight responsibility, and that being “co-equal” really did mean “on equal footing.”
This president believes no such thing. He believes he stands above all, and if there is any crippling going on, it’s obvious that it is the president who is doing it – not the Congress.
Frances Townsend is another example of someone who has been in the Bush Bubble for so long, she actually believes the things she says.
Can’t wait for the rest of them to hit the road.
Q: What’s the real reason the C.I.A. destroyed those video tapes?
A: Because Bush and Cheney were done masturbating to them.
I worked for a long, long time in the government, both as an Air Traffic Controller, then in DOT position and policy. I can’t speak for political appointees, other than I found most laughable, but in all my years, I never once was worried about getting a subpoena. These damn fools have brought a bad name to all of us who WORK in and for the government.
Maybe, just maybe Townshend can find herself in a mirror – just another Rovean operative who’s lost her way. Federal, shared Constitutional power was just too much to ask from authoritarians such as those in the WH. Team Texas – worst American political team in history! Long in the face, and making a muck of our land. Maybe now Townshend has time to invest in that trailor park for her retirement. -Kevo
Jesus Christ, he said, in most secular terms. IOKIYAR, anyone?
I find this woman a disgusting and spew-worthy piece of crap, embarrassment to humanity.
Just think what I would think if I didn’t want to Eff her until she screamed for me to stop.
Of course, that will never happen, primarily because I find her repulsive in every sense of the word except physically. Age-adjusted.
What a loser, and Bush-whore. The good news is that she’ll go down in history as a dick-sucker of the WPE.
This broad is just another one from the sticky, slimy, stinky, lying sack of liquid crap that is the Bush Administration (er regime/crime family)..
Don’t try and play that game of holding Republicans to the standards they demand of Democrats. Never going to work. IOKIYAR.
I’m surprised that she didn’t claim that, as result of all these subpoenas, the responsibility for the next terrorist attack will be on Congress’s hands, since the White House has to spend all its time fighting subpoenas instead of fighting the terrorists.
I find the misadministration she was part of offensive and crippling (to the rule of law). I only hope the full extent of ShrubCo misdeeds comes to light so that we can all hear what their pathetic excuses will be. I’m assuming “I was out of the loop” will be quite popular (along with “I have no recollection”)..
Though I’m glad to see Frances Fragos Townsend go, I couldn’t find the reason she was leaving in the articles I read.
Can anybody help me out?
Troubled
Ms Townsend only needs to know that she held office because she was dumb. If she does not know that, she only has to look around.
This administration is afraid because they are guilty of wrong doing. Bush has made plain that he has not respect for the law or the constitution. He believes that he and his cohort are above the law and therefore should not be subject to congressional oversight. He has told the people in his administration that they should not honor the subpoenas of congress. The Republicans when they were in control of congress have tried protected this president from the consequences of his actions. They went out their way trying to bring down the Clinton Administration and could not find anything, but a lie about a sexual affair. This president has showed that he is guilty of far worst offences than the Clinton Administration ever was accurse of. Now that what I called being a hypocrite.
Shorter FFT: “Do as we say, not as we do.”
Or as Jesus once said, “It depends who’s ox is being gored.”
Though I’m glad to see Frances Fragos Townsend go, I couldn’t find
the reason she was leaving in the articles I read.
Can anybody help me out?
To spend more time with her family. That’s what all the rats say as they desert the sinking ship of state.
I think Ms. Townsend raises what would be a valid point with respect to any other administration in recent memory. However, Congressional oversight can only have a “crippling” effect on presidential policy if the adminstration is capable of concieving and implementing useful policy. George W. Bush’s administration has yet to confront any problem – fiscal, diplomatic, or national security – it couldn’t promptly make dramatically worse, so crippling its policy-making apparatus is probably for the best in a way that it wouldn’t be with other, less gruesomely inept administrations.
However, this politics of vendetta – which Republican congresses between 1994 and 2006 deserve about 99.99% of the blame – doesn’t serve us well at all, and we’d be wise to keep that in mind.
When are you silly moonbats going to end your war on PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH? You hate him because he is Christian. Your Hillary Beast Queen of the Liberals is no match.
“When both career people and political people are worried about getting subpoenaed, it’s hard to get a lot accomplished.”
They can only be worried if they have done something wrong or the investigators are following the Administrations techniques for interrogation.
Hey Joe,
Take your medication.
I’ve tried for nearly two years to find out why Fran’s Hurricane Katrina “Lessons Learned” report made no mention of the hospital with the largest number of patient deaths post landfall.
LifeCare Hospital lost 24 patients during and after Katrina. Their owner, The Carlyle Group shares a Pennsylvania Avenue with the White House. LifeCare and Tenet Healthcare (the owner of Memorial Hospital which housed the LifeCare unit)dramatically increased their lobbying budget for 2005-2006, the time Fran worked diligently on the Katrina report.
One could attribute the omission to an oversight and claim this is all ancient history. However, Santa just gave The Carlyle Group ManorCare, the huge nursing home provider. If Carlyle could fail patients in one out of twenty one LTAC’s, what might they do with 500 mostly nursing homes? I shared my concerns with members of Congress, the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and the White House. I received the same number of replies as LifeCare mentions in Fran’s “Lessons Learned” report, zero. As you said, she has a perfect record. It just doesn’t involve telling the whole story.
Fran plans to land a job doing risk management at an investment firm. I know one that is likely most grateful for her past efforts in that arena, and its just the block from her current office. In early January the world may find out her new employer. It would be most ironic if Fran ended up at Carlyle and remained unscathed.