The battle over the Congressional inquiry into the dismissal of federal prosecutors is not one of Mr. Bush's choosing. But now that it has been thrust upon him, Mr. Bush is defiantly refusing to allow Karl Rove and other top aides to testify publicly and under oath, as Democrats are demanding. And he is standing by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, despite calls for Mr. Gonzales to quit.

In doing so, the president is sending a message to the new Democratic majority on Capitol Hill: He may be a lame duck and his poll numbers may be down, but he will protect those closest to him, defend his presidential powers and run his White House the way he sees fit in his remaining 22 months in office.

The President, with a compliant and complicit Republican Congress, has trashed the Constitution and made a farce of democracy. But, no longer in control of the legislative branch, the White House faces consequences.

It is called "What goes around, comes around." When the Republicans stick it to Democrats for 12 years, and then run and hide behind a claim of "partisan politics," one has to marvel at the audacity of it.  It isn't cojones; it is either their sheer stupidity in thinking that We the People are that stupid or their cojones are collectively receding into their chest as the truth comes out.

I watched every minute of the Senate Watergate Hearings instead of studying for the bar during the day (but I still passed; the hearings started two days before my graduation from law school).  Senators Sam Ervin (D-NC) and Howard Baker (R-TN) were legends in a bipartisan inquiry. Will a Republican rise above it all and be today's Howard Baker and ask "What did the President know and when did he know it?"  

That remains to be seen.

Déjà vu all over again.