The Post editorial board, with plenty of criticism for House Republicans, nevertheless reaches the same position that conservatives have been advocating this week with regard to President Obama’s exercise of executive privilege: “Congress’s authority to gather information is broad — as broad as its sweeping powers to legislate, spend public money and hold executive officials accountable through impeachment. No doubt a lot of congressional investigations are partisan fishing expeditions. For better or worse, that comes with the democratic territory. Absent very strong countervailing considerations — stronger than some of those the administration has asserted in this case — Congress is generally entitled to disclosure.”
The mystery remains, however, why Democrats on Capitol Hill — who may well face a Romney administration next year, have an institutional interest in preserving Congress’s ability to conduct oversight and are struggling not to go down with the Obama campaign (which is taking on water at an alarming rate — should defend the president on this one. Whether Attorney General Eric Holder lied under oath or this is much to do about nothing, why prolong ad elevate the scandal?"............
