Turnabout is fair play

The Republic notes that "key Bush aides" skipped the first congressional hearing on the President's immigration-reform policy:

Eighteen months after President Bush first called on Congress to enact immigration reform that includes a temporary-worker plan for foreigners, two top officials of his administration were no-shows Tuesday for the Senate's first major hearing on the politically thorny issue.

No detailed explanation was given as to why Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff did not testify as scheduled, except that "they were not ready yet," a disappointed Sen. Arlen Specter said after the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Maybe they were taking their cue from Senate Democrats:

This morning the Wall Street Journal reported that Senate Democrats were planning “to grill Bush confidant Karen Hughes” about her involvement in the ever widening leak-case. But, Senate Democrats must have gotten lost on the way to the hearing. Not one showed up. Instead, according to the Associated Press:

“A scaled-back Senate Foreign Relations Committee showered praise Friday on Karen Hughes and put the former political adviser to President Bush on a fast track to confirmation as the State Department’s top public relations official.”

The absence of the Democrats is even more glaring considering just today the New York Times reported that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald called Karen Hughes before the grand jury to testify as to her involvement in the leak-case. Of course, this begs the obvious question: Karen Hughes, did you have a role in leaking the name of an undercover CIA agent?

Instead of any substantive questions, the Democrats simply didn’t show up.

Heh.