Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege. 

The position presents serious legal and political obstacles for congressional Democrats, who have begun laying the groundwork for contempt proceedings against current and former White House officials in order to pry loose information about the dismissals.

David B. Rifkin, who worked in the Justice Department and White House counsel's office under presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, praised the position and said it is consistent with the idea of a "unitary executive." In practical terms, he said, "U.S. attorneys are emanations of a president's will." And in constitutional terms, he said, "the president has decided, by virtue of invoking executive privilege, that is the correct policy for the entire executive branch."

President Bush breathed new life into the CIA's terror interrogation program Friday in an executive order that would allow harsh questioning of suspects, limited in public only by a vaguely worded ban on cruel and inhuman treatment. 

The order bars some practices such as sexual abuse, part of an effort to quell international criticism of some of the CIA's most sensitive and debated work. It does not say what practices would be allowed. 

The executive order is the White House's first public effort to reach into the CIA's five-year-old terror detention program, which has been in limbo since a Supreme Court decision last year called its legal foundation into question.

I have issued an Executive Order blocking property of persons determined to have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq or undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people.

Democrats needed to do something dramatic, even histrionic, to dispel the perception they are powerless to stop the war, even if they are. They’re keeping the heat on, and that’s a good thing. GOP leader Mitch McConnell, outraged at the sleepover stunt, cited a Zogby poll taken before this week’s Senate action that found voters’ approval for the Democratic Congress has dropped to 14 percent—evidence to McConnell that the Democrats’ strategy is failing. Pollster John Zogby questions this interpretation, saying that Congress never does well no matter who’s in charge, and in post-Katrina America, government institutions are at a low point. Liberals in particular rate this Congress very low because of the war, which is why the least the Senate could do is pull an all-nighter. “I see this not as a stroke of desperation but something they have to do,” Zogby told NEWSWEEK. “They have to keep trying to end the war. They can’t be seen as throwing their arms up in the air and saying it’s impossible, or they’ll get these kind [sic] of numbers.”

New Hampshire Republican John Sununu said he won't campaign with George W. Bush next year ``in this climate'' because of the president's low job-approval ratings.  

Sununu, who faces a tough re-election, said ``the president's popularity, unfortunately, is at a fairly low level.'' He spoke in an interview with Bloomberg Television's ``Political Capital with Al Hunt,'' scheduled to air today. 

Bush campaigned for Sununu in New Hampshire twice during the 2002 election, when Sununu beat Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, a former governor, by about 20,000 votes. Shaheen, who hasn't declared her candidacy, led Sununu 56 percent to 34 percent, according to a Concord Monitor poll of likely voters conducted this month.

Sununu, 42, opposed a Senate proposal this week that would have required most U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by April 30, 2008. He said it was ``not sound policy'' to announce to U.S. enemies when troops would begin pulling back.

He said he would consider giving U.S. commanders more time to quell violence in the country if they ask for it when General David Petraeus, the top U.S. officer in Iraq, presents a report to Congress in September.