Saturday, October 8, 2005
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
Democrats to force Dobson to testify?
Senator wants
to know if he's hiding Miers' pro-life views
Posted: October 8, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
James
Dobson |
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary
Committee might subpoena James Dobson during the confirmation hearings for
Harriet Miers to probe the family advocate about "confidential"
information he has about the Supreme Court nominee, a Capitol Hill source
says.
Dobson recently said his endorsement of Miers was founded on
"confidential" information he was "privy to" but "not at liberty to talk
about," according to the political weblog Ankle Biting Pundits.
Although not a Judiciary Committee member, Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo.,
has taken up the cause, pitching the idea to top Democratic staffers on
the panel.
"It seems to me, all of the [information] the White House knows about
Harriet Miers should be made available to the Senate and the American
people," Salazar said. "If they're making information available to Dr.
Dobson whom I respect and disagree with from time to time I believe
that information should be shared equally with a U.S. senator."
Citing "insiders," the weblog says Salazar believes Dobson should be
called before the panel to answer what he knows about Miers, when he knew
it and who provided him with the information.
The unspoken suspicion is that someone in the Bush administration
presumably presidential adviser Karl Rove told Dobson that Miers is
pro-life and has pledged to vote against Roe v. Wade should she be
confirmed, the weblog says.
Some of Salazar's colleagues, however, including Minority Leader Harry
Reid, believe calling Dobson before the committee as a hostile witness
would be seen as a disastrous public relations stunt that would further
alienate the Democrat Party from Christian conservatives.
"We're not going to conduct an Inquisition," one top Hill staffer told
the weblog. "Salazar's idea is half-baked."
But another Hill staffer said Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Judiciary Committee
member, likes the idea and is trying to craft it as a "separation of
powers" issue rather than a religious issue.
It might work, Kennedy believes, if Democrats can make it an issue of
President Bush withholding information.
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