In the far fetched world of my imagination, the following very well could have taken place a few weeks ago;
Henry Waxman, strolling down the corridors of power, still breathing very deeply the air of power all around him, unable even at this late date to believe he and his fellow Democrats had taken power away from what seemed only three years ago, a unified and powerful Republican majority. He starts whistling, then his nostril catches the scent of smoke - he stops in mid stride, nearly toppling over because literally it was mid-stride. The smell was coming from the closet, he opens the door and sees a congressman in the closet with a cigarette. His eyes widen, his mouth narrows, his nostril flares and he points and opens his mouth. Out of the mouth comes the most ear splitting sound as he points and waves his finger. The republican congressman cowers and begins to fall out of the closet, stumbling away from the pointing Waxman ... the crescendo builds ... the Republican congressman runs down the hall. By now, others have gathered and are pointing and screeching also. Soon a large swarm have gathered and as the Republican scrambles away, the mob chases. As they go out of sight, Waxman closes his mouth and continues along whistling. A few moments later he bumps in to Nancy Pelosi -
"Hiya Nance - beautiful morning isn't it?"
"It sure is Henry. Anything new today?"
"We should think about running some ads in the 13th district. They will be needing a new congressman."
"Great. Oh Henry, I heard from a little bird, before I swallowed it, that Bush is in league with the manufacturer of HGH. It seems he wants to grow and will try anything."
"Gee, I used the rack and I grew two inches. It was a little painful, but it worked. You know Nance, you should try it. Looking a little short, you are."
"Henry, maybe you could check in to the HGH issue. It could topple the Bushie if we coudl link him to HGH."
"Sure thing Nance."
Two weeks later - House Committee Hearings involving baseball pitcher Roger Clemens consume dozens of hours of congress' time, interns are paid, aides are paid, photographers are paid - tens of thousands of dollars are spent to determine whether a baseball player used HGH.
At a time when scores of people are killed by al-qaida daily, Pakistan's nuclear program is in serious jeopardy with the kidnapping of its scientists, al-qaida is in its death throes in Iraq (making it even more dangerous) ... the US Congress finds it important enough to avoid work on serious legislation and hold hearings on whether Roger Clemens used HGH.
"I'm sorry we had the hearing. I regret that we had the hearing." so says Henry Waxman.
It is, according to Waxman, not his fault - Roger Clemens forced him to have hearings. Yep, I always told my lawyers that anytime I had been insulted I wanted a congressional hearing and was always told I could have one anytime. Because Clemens had been mentioned in the Mitchell Report ... so Bush could demand hearings every time his name was libeled. Ha. He could keep Congress tied up for ten years and Congress could then blame Bush for not doing the work he was hired to do.
Mr. Waxman, you were hired to work for the people, not your own sorry ego - stop wasting our money. Accept responsibility and do not do it again.
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