Lets put law and atmospherics aside and try to be completely practical. The imperative in the IRS scandal is not criminal prosecution. It is political accountability: to lay bare what corrupt officials have done, for the purpose of swiftly determining whether they are unfit to hold offices of public trust and whether the system in which they operate tends to corruption. The appointment of a special counsel would undermine that goal.The moment a prosecutor special or otherwise takes over, the public flow of information stops. All witnesses will claim that the pendency of a criminal investigation means they cannot discuss the matter on advice of counsel. They will cease cooperating with congressional investigators. The prosecutor will claim that grand-jury secrecy rules bar comment about the expansive investigation (a claim the government routinely makes, even though the rules actually bar comment only by the prosecutor, investigative agents, and grand jurors not the witnesses).
The objective here should not be to throw a few corrupt officials in the can. Rather, it should be to disgrace the Regime and shatter Americans' confidence in their government and thereby gin up the votes to retake the Senate in 2014 and the White House in 2016. In order to do that, all the shocking facts must be placed before the public.
A House select committee holding a series of lengthy hearings is probably the best vehicle to accomplish those objectives.
Agree now....it will be frustrating to watch it drag on, but the facts need to get out...SOON!!
I'm not buying the line from McCarthy. We saw today that people will clam up any time perjury or potential criminal charges are on the line.
These congressional hearings are completely and utterly impotent. They are very limited in their power and ability to pursue wrongdoing where ever the trails lead. They will be ignored by the vast majority of the public and all of the little peons will continue their personal conspiracies with impunity unless their job, pension, and freedom is jerked away from them - with maybe clawback of their hefty bonuses.
They need to be rolled in order to "out" the real masterminds. Justice needs to be served on the statists who believe they are impervious to the rule of law and are bringing about the death of our republic.