a primer on the coming constitutional crisis

Here is a quick-and-dirty rundown of the constitutional issue of congressional subpoenas and the full implications of W's willingness to burn the whole house down, from Kagro X at dKos. A sampling:

Realize that the resolution of this stand-off will determine the extent to which the Congress is able to investigate everything that's still on their plate. If they lose this showdown, they lose their leverage in investigating NSA spying, the DeLay/Abramoff-financed Texas redistricting, Cheney's Energy Task Force, the political manipulation of science, the Plame outing... everything.

The entirety of the Dems tenure in congressional leadership has been building up to this confrontation. In my opinion, it was inevitable. They've let this bull run amok in our china shop for far too long under the cowed GOP leadership and the cowed Dem leadership before that.

It's time for the corraling.