Scott McClellan to testify before Congress

Just hours after the House Judiciary Committee requested that former Bush White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan testify before Congress, McClellan has agreed.

Without question, things are going to be awfully interesting in our nation's capital this summer. McClellan is expected to testify on June 20, which, unfortunately, give political talking heads a full 11 days to debate, pontificate and interview each other in order to engage in wild speculation about what he will say.

I don't know what I'm looking forward to most - McClellan's testimony, the media circus that will no doubt ensue, or how the Bush White House will attempt to paint him as the most treasenous American since the Rosenbergs.

His testimony is expected be centered on the outing of Valerie Plame, but he is also expected to offer some insight into the blatant propaganda that the American was subjected to during the run-up to the War in Iraq.

Earlier today, Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) sent a letter to McClellan requesting his testimony.

HuffPo:

"I have extended an invitation...after discussions between Committee staff and his attorneys," wrote Conyers. "In his book, Mr. McClellan suggests that senior White House officials may have obstructed justice and engaged in a cover-up regarding the Valerie Plame leak. This alleged activity could well extend beyond the scope of the offenses for which Scooter Libby has been convicted and deserves further attention."

The power of a president to pardon is unconditional in the Constitution, but I will go to my grave believing that Bush violated the spirit of what a presidential pardon is supposed to be. A just and forgiving society has to give its leaders the power to forgive, but that doesn't include the power to obstruct justice and to cover up criminal wrong-doing by an administration or its employees, and that's precisely what President Bush did by pardoning I. Lewis "Scotter" Libby.

I also have little doubt that Bush will pardon a whole bunch of scofflaws from this administration on his way out of the Oval Office next January. What's worse, Constitutionally, Congress is limited in what it can do to stop him, from how I understand it. However, by beginning impeachment proceedings against him, I'm pretty sure in assuming that he would not be able to pardon lawbreakers in this administration.

As if our political world needed any more drama this summer, it's getting a pretty big additional side order of just that. Not that I think it's a bad thing, but it's going to be a long, hot summer in our nation's capital.

Here's hoping that justice is finally served in the Valerie Plame case.