Is a Day of Reckoning Coming for Rove?

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee voted today to hold former Bush White House strategist Karl Rove in contempt for failing to appear after receipt of a Congressional subpoena.

In a sign that the modern Republican Party has lost its moral compass, the 20-14 vote was along party lines, with not one Republican calling on Rove to honor a Congressional subpoena.

The vote is a recommendation, and it remains unclear whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will allow a vote of the full House.

The committee vote came as progressive groups delivered to Congress 127,000 signatures of people calling for Rove to be held in contempt.

Our friends from Writechic have an excellent account of the day's activities.

Alabama Republican whistleblower Jill Simpson, a key figure in exposing the apparent political prosecution of former Democratic Governor Don Siegelman, called on Pelosi to help clean up the mess left by the Bush White House.

Glynn Wilson, of Locust Fork World News, reports on Simpson's statements:

“The time is now,” Ms. Simpson said. “Ms. Pelosi promised when she took over the House after the 2006 elections to clean up. It’s time for her to clean the White House for thumbing their noses at Congress.”

Ms. Simpson says she feels akin to the 127,000 people who signed a petition calling on Congress to send Karl Rove to jail, she said, and she thinks the House should use the Sergeant at Arms to arrest him. Inherent contempt and the Sergeant at Arms have been rarely used in American history, she said, “because most people don’t thumb their noses at the United States Congress.”

“Mr. Rove has repeatedly thumbed his nose at the U.S. Congress, and he should have respect for the Constitution and the Congress,” she said. “The time has come to stop this.”

Saying the current situation is a "Constitutional crisis," Simpson called on Congress to hold the White House accountable:

Ms. Simpson commended Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., the chairwoman of the Commercial and Administrative Law subcommittee, along with committee chairman John Conyers and Birmingham Rep. Artur Davis, “for their valiant efforts to restore the integrity of the Constitution of the United States,” she said. “They need to do a thorough, to the bottom of the bucket investigation. Otherwise there is going to be a revolt.”