Talk Nation Radio: Contempt, Congress, and Elizabeth Holtzman on How to Prosecute George W. Bush

The political parties in Washington, D.C., have switched sides for the moment.  Now the Democrats accept presidential power abuses, while the Republicans are outraged, selectively, by a few of them.  Host David Swanson gives his thoughts.  Guest Elizabeth Holtzman discusses the possibility of creating a climate of accountability by prosecuting George W. Bush.  Holtzman was a member of Congress and of the House Judiciary Committee that voted for articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon.  She proposed the bill that required review of state secrets claims, as well as the bill that created a special prosecutor — a law that was allowed to lapse following Kenneth Starr’s abuse of it.  She was there for the creation of FISA.  She has brought Nazi war criminals to justice.  She was a leading advocate for impeaching George W. Bush.  Liz Holtzman’s new book, co-authored with Cynthia Cooper, is called Cheating Justice: How Bush and Cheney Attacked the Rule of Law and Plotted to Avoid Prosecution, and What We Can Do About It.  In the book, and in this interview, Holzman builds a case that Bush and his vice president Dick Cheney went out of their way to carefully protect themselves from prosecution but nonetheless left themselves open to it.