Respect My Authori-TAH!

Here's the transcript of Bush's petulant, pissy-pants press conference. He essentially restated the offer to get Rove and Miers to be "interviewed" by Congress without being under oath, because they need to be given the freedom to lie. These are the nut grafs:

These extraordinary steps offered today to the majority in Congress demonstrate a reasonable solution to the issue. However, we will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants.

The initial response by Democrats unfortunately shows some appear more interested in scoring political points than in learning the facts. It will be regrettable if they choose to head down the partisan road of issuing subpoenas and demanding show trials when I have agreed to make key White House officials and documents available.

I have proposed a reasonable way to avoid an impasse. I hope they don't choose confrontation. I will oppose any attempts to subpoena White House officials.

These are typical macho intimidation tactics by the President here, designed to actually force a Constitutional showdown. I learned today that if Rove and Miers refuse to appear while under subpoena and are found in contempt of Congress, the US ATTORNEY'S OFFICE is responsible for prosecuting them. You know, the office that just purged itself of everyone but "loyal Bushies" and made sure that anyone going after Republican corruption or insufficiently going after Democratic corruption was dumped on their ass.

Bush would rather make this about the White House v. the Democratic Congress than the White House v. the law. He's asserting supreme executive powers that are nowhere to be found in the Constitution in the hopes that the Senate and House Judiciary Committees will blink first. For crying out loud, he's even lost Tom Tancredo.

Bush never gets angrier than when he's told he has to face up to responsibility. He doesn't respect the rules of government and thinks they should all be subservient to his will. This is a big game of chicken and the tribalists in the Republican Party will have no problem lining up behind their standard-bearer on this one. Stay strong, Democrats. This is about who you are.