It’s shocking, I know — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi does not approve of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s proceeding with contempt charges against Attorney General Eric Holder.

Republicans on the Oversight Committee are, of course, only playing politics with the contempt proceedings — a move the likes of which she never would have pulled as Speaker of the House, reports HuffPo:

“I could have arrested Karl Rove on any given day,” Pelosi said to laughter, during a sit-down with reporters. “I’m not kidding. There’s a prison here in the Capitol … If we had spotted him in the Capitol, we could have arrested him.” …

Asked on what grounds she could have arrested Rove, Pelosi replied, “Oh, any number. But there were some specific ones for his being in contempt of Congress. But we didn’t.” …

“This is just strictly political,” she said. “It’s just the irresponsibility of the Republicans. We want jobs. Why are they spending this time doing this?” …

“‘Loose cannon’ would sort of be like such a compliment to Darrell Issa. ‘Loose cannon’ would be a moderate phrase. This is an explosive device,” she said. “It doesn’t serve our country, and it undermines the true purpose of contempt of Congress.”

Mm hmm. Despite displaying perhaps just a touch of petulance, Rep. Pelosi is actually pointing out the gamble Republicans are taking with this one — Democrats are going to keep hammering that Republicans are out-of-touch and are squandering their attention instead of staying focused on the economy and jobs. (President Obama, somehow, will escape their totally-not-political criticism, even as he tours the country talking about loosening deportation rules, and gay marriage, and stopping a practically infinitesimal increase in student loan debt, and…)

Whether or not you were magnanimous enough to not to proceed on whatever injustices you believe Karl Rove committed, the fact remains that Operation Fast and Furious was an illegal program that resulted in the death of a border patrol agent and the deaths of countless Mexicans. I think it’s kinda, sorta important we figure out what happened, and Eric Holder is not afforded the authority to ignore Congressional subpoenas and stonewall at his leisure.

Anyhow, the Obama administration wouldn’t know anything about playing politics, would they? After all, they just decided to invoke executive privilege to help protect George W. Bush… or something. Exit quotation: