Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) recently attracted attention by serving as Karl Rove's liasion to the House Judiciary Committee, where he made sure Rove didn't look like a scofflaw who wouldn't abide by Congress' subpoena. Thanks to Smith, the weary Conyers can now hang a framed categorical declaration of innocence on his wall, the last bounty of a long and glorious career that began with the ignonimy of being on Nixon's enemies list.
Thanks to Rep. Smith, Conyers has attained his goal of obtaining something to show his grandkids, a souvenir of the time when the target of his numerous sternly worded letters finally answered with a sweetly worded one- assuring him, and the nation, that he (presumably- did he sign his own letter?), Rove, is not a subpoena-defying scofflaw. and that charges of Rove's having a hand in imprisoning Don Siegelman were utterly false, because Rove doesn't know any "government officials" down in Alabama, least of all someone with the name of "Simpson."

But Rep. Smith has done more. At yesterday's 'pseudo-impeachment' hearings, where Wexler, apparently on a cocaine binge, used the verboten word 'impeachment,' Rep Smith came up with a far more creative use for the dreaded term.

"This hearing will not cause us to impeach the President; it will only serve to impeach our own credibility."


Can Congress impeach its own credibility? If it can, Rep. Smith will have had the singular honor of finally taking this option 'off the table.' Rep. Smith, you are my new hero! (That's 'H-E-R-O,' as Karl would say.) Initiate hearings on impeaching Congress itself. The way to restore Congress' credibilty is to impeach it.