On a recent thread, there was a post listing a number of quotations from Democrats in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. The quotes all were on the topic of WMD's and Saddam's desires to produce and/or use them.

It is important to keep in mind that this occurred at the high point of bipartisanship in response to 9/11. My personal feeling as I heard these statements coming out was that I had seen nothing of substance to support these statements, but they were a useful rhetorical tool to help in caging Saddam and preventing his re-acquisition of WMD's.

As the Downing Street Memo pointed out, however, Bush was using this rhetoric in an entirely different manner, taking it as actual truth in need of immediate action. The invasion of Iraq then becomes a tipping point, based in part on taking what was a rhetorical tool meant to achieve restraint and turning it into a contrived justification for invading a country posing no real threat. World opinion, as pointed out in the Pew poll, quickly saw this for what it was, but citizens of the US continued to buy the misrepresentations, in no small part, because it was our sons, daughters, friends and neighbors who were in direct danger in Iraq.

Bush has continued his rhetoric, as Glenn points out in Tragic Legacy, casting the US as pure Good in the struggle with pure Evil. However, for many citizens, it is quite possible that this week's commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence will prove a tipping point for US citizens. As Keith Olbermann pointed out, this act has many parallels with Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre in potentially serving to crystallize public opinion on the lawlessness of Bush and his cabal.

As several have pointed out, restoration of US reputation abroad will rely on our stepping up to acknowledge the abuses of the Bush Administration and taking the appropriate steps to punish illegal acts and reform our policies to reinstate our true values.

Like many others, I am impatient to see these corrections carried out, but I think it is worth pointing out that the Saturday Night Massacre occurred ten months before Nixon finally resigned. Furthermore, the mainstream media at that time was truly engaged in documenting the abuses of the Nixon Administration, whereas today this documentation occurs primarily in blogs which must face the dual task of documenting the abuses and confronting the active complicity of the mainstream media.

With time, and action, we can right these wrongs and begin the arduous task of rehabilitating our image in the world. Despite the current low opinion, I think many are still rooting for us to achieve this.

Maybe if you just stay inside your home, the toxic Washington environment won't get to you. Keep up the good work. I trusted War Room for the best election coverage in the lead-up to the 2006 elections and I am sure 2008 will be even more exciting.

I was checking news stories on the Google news site and saw a wonderfully ridiculous picutre of W accompanying the headlines on the Appeals Court rejection of the ACLU wiretapping suit. The picture was linked to a publication called Alaska Report:

http://alaskareport.com/news/z46324_wiretapping.htm

The same operation also has a hilarious photo on the Domenici story as well: http://alaskareport.com/news/z46327_domenici.htm

Can anyone shed some light on this operation? They seem to have a wonderful sense of humor. Their home page has links to Salon, HuffPo, The Nation and The Independent.

Tim,

Are you by any chance going to get a Press Pass to the White House? I'm already chuckling, thinking about the questions you will pose to Snow, Perino, et. al., and how they will splutter in response!

It seems to me that the standing issue could be dealt with if someone from inside the program gets fed up and produces a list of people who were spied on illegally. That would produce legitimate plaintiffs for moving forward with a case essentially identical with this one.

This patriot would need to be very careful in making the disclosure, because they would be at risk of disappearing into a secret prison, as would those on the list. A very public disclosure venue, with both the whistle-blower and the plaintiffs present, probably would allow this to get moving safely.