The WH email scandal
Captain Ed has spot-on analysis and commentary on the latest WH scandal involving some emails that reportedly were sent from WH aides using RNC email addresses, emails that contained official government business.
Most of the commentary about this issue has come from the perpetually outraged left in the blogosphere, but I think as far as ‘our side’ goes, Ed sums up the controversy nicely and I can’t say I disagree with anything he said. Out of all the ‘scandals’ that the media and other usual suspects have tried to drum up against the admin, this one seems to have the most legs but even at that, the Dems should be very careful they don’t overstep. As the Captain explains:
First, let’s acknowledge one danger presented by the investigation into the termination of the prosecutors. Congress, led by Henry Waxman, now threatens to subpoena the internal communications of the minority party. That would not just expose whatever the Democrats claim the messages contain about the firings, but the political strategies of high-level Republican Party activists. The government has no business snooping in those deliberations; in fact, it would be the Congressional equivalent of the Watergate break-in.
If the federal government can force political parties to divulge those deliberations for anything less that an explicit criminal investigation, then Big Brother has arrived — and we still have no underlying crime for this investigation. All we have is a very questionable decision to fire US Attorneys and a Keystone Kops follow-up to the ensuing criticism. The internal deliberations of political parties should remain shielded from the subpoena power of Congress or the executive branch for issues as petty as what we have here, lest we do permanent damage to our freedom of political action.
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Congress should tread carefully, regardless. It should create a process which vets the provided material for just messages that pertain to the already-lame issues at hand in the investigation, and screen the rest from unnecessary exposure. In the long run, the independence of political activity for all parties outweighs the petty principles in play over the termination of the US Attorneys.
Stay tuned …