corrente

Except that Nixon was altogether a better, braver man, and probably history will judge him a better President. Anyhow, "executive privilege" worked so well for Nixon, it looks like Bush is going to try it, too:

Citing executive privilege, the White House refused to allow President Bush's chief health-policy adviser, Douglas Badger, to testify Thursday before the House Ways and Means Committee about early administration estimates that the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit would be far more costly than many lawmakers believed when they voted for it.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the decision not to let Badger testify was justified by the longstanding principle that exempts assistants to the president from testifying before Congress.

Executive privilege, while not mentioned specifically in the Constitution, has been recognized by the Supreme Court as necessary to, as Duffy put it, "preserve the White House's ability to get the best information possible and to speak candidly."

Knight Ridder reported on March 11 that former Medicare administrator Thomas Scully threatened to fire his chief actuary, Richard Foster, if Foster shared the far higher estimate with members of Congress. The alleged firing threat, which Scully contends was not serious, sparked sharp bipartisan criticism from lawmakers, editorial writers and interest groups, as did the administration's effort to keep the higher cost figure out of the congressional debate. Lawmakers in prior years had free access to Foster's estimates.
(via the San JoseMercury News)

I love it when Republicans do things like claiming "I was only joking!" when they threaten to fire people. I mean, come on, where's your sense of humor? I know when my boss threatens to fire me, I just laugh along! Sheesh.

And I really love it when the Bushies claim they want to "get the best information possible." Since they already know what they want to hear (faith-based intelligence on WMDs, cost of the Iraq, et cetera et cetera), what more information could they possibly need?

And the best part of all is, Bush made all the same arguments on Condi, and then wussed out. So let's roll him on this issue too!