A la Rove: gut the Constitution – except when it suits us. And even then, misinterpret it to our ends. Who’ll challenge us?

On numerous recent media appearances, Karl Rove has justified the White House’s refusal to obey Congressional subpoenas with the following false argument:

MR. GREGORY: Let me ask you quickly about the, the investigation into the firing of U.S. attorneys. You have defended the firing of those attorneys. You’ve done so publicly. Why not then testify about that under oath as Congress wants you to?

MR. ROVE: Yeah, look, here’s the issue. There is a tension between Congress and the executive. Congress wants to be able to call the—this Congress in particular—wants to be able to call presidential aides up at its whim and convenience and have them testify. That would have a chilling effect on the ability of a president to get candid, straightforward advice from his aides. We have a constitutional separation of powers. The founders talk about this. They, they understood this issue, and they wanted to insulate the judicial, the executive and the legislative from each other in this respect. Imagine the outcry if the executive branch said, “We have a right to pull up any congressional aide we want and ask you at any time what advice you’re giving your member about a vote.” Imagine the outcry in the country if we said Supreme Court clerks can be called before Congress or called before the executive at any time to talk about what they’re, what they’re advising the Supreme Court Justices as they write their opinions.

The counsel’s office had made a very generous offer. If they want to find out what Harriet Miers and I said and did, we’d be happy to go up there and have a visit with them about it. But we would—have an obligation, when we’re sworn in as an officer inside the White House, a commissioned officer, we swear to uphold the Constitution, and the Constitution has a separation of powers. It should not—the Constitution should not be weakened, and we should not weaken the prerogatives of the power of the presidency just because somebody wants to have kind of show hearing on the Hill.

Of course, the executive branch has pulled up congressional aides to testify. The FBI, as part of the executive, and the DOJ, regularly subpoenas other branches of the federal government – legislative and judicial. “Think Duke.” The FBI and DOJ inquiries do not appear on C-SPAN. However, they do assert jurisdiction over the other two branches of government in the system of checks and balances that Karl Rove is so keen on obfuscating. Each has oversight over the others – no matter what you say, Mr. Rove.