House Republicans 'Attack the Accuser'

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has asked the Justice Department to open a grand jury investigation into President Bush's chief of staff Josh Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers. In her statements, Pelosi accused Bolten and Miers of contempt of Congress for refusing to testify about the firings of federal prosecutors in 2006 and for failing to turn over White House documents related to the dismissals.

The White House responded with a denial—claiming executive privilege and positioning the silence of Bolten and Miers as necessary for national security.

For the most part, however, the White House and House Republicans relied an “attack the accuser” strategy—claiming that Pelosi and House Democrats were failing to keep the US safe from terrorism by focusing on the charges.

For example, White House spokesman Tony Fratto stated that "Rather than passing critical national security legislation, they continue to squander time on partisan hijinx.”

In addition, a spokesperson for House Republican John Boehner said: “The terrorist threat to our country is not going away, and this sort of pandering to the left-wing fever swamps of loony liberal activists does nothing to make America safer.”