I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the fact the Rudy Giuliani is actually running for President of the United States tells me everything I need to know about just exactly how broken our political system is. The fact that he can get any traction at all when his record shows him to be a total head-case is completely beyond me.

But, then, GW Bush made it to the White House, even if he didn't quite get elected to it...and cheated the second time...so anything's possible. Which means we all better pray you're right, Joan, because Rudy Giuliani as President fills me with total despair. And genuine fright.

Just check out the current Harper's article on Giuliani. Anyone who could vote for him after knowing what's in there shouldn't be *allowed* to vote.

correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the GOP have bigger majorities in the House and Senate when they impeached Clinton than the Dems do now?

If the Dems had the same majorities in Congress the GOP had in the late 90s, maybe impeachment would be a little more practical. As it is, it'd be an exercise in futility.

And I wish we could impeach, try, convict and imprison Cheney and Bush, and a few other people.

But, all along, I've seen Pelosi's point. She's trying to win back power for the Party, and impeachment is not the way to go about it now. The GOP held on too long. Brainwashed too many. It won't fly.

Better to keep the investigative heat on, keep issuing subpoenas, and expect that a lot of dirt comes out between now and Fall 2008, and that the GOP gets utterly creamed. That's where my hopes are pinned now. Bush and Cheney get off scott-free, yes, but there was nothing anyone could do about that by the time the Dems took over Congress. It was fore-ordained that Bush and cheney would get out clean. They have too much power, too much money, too many friends in the right places. And a totally compliant GOP in Congress.

You want to blame someone, blame the 60 million adult americans who actually voted for cheney and Bush in 2004. They're the ones responsible. Blame all the people in 2006 who voted to keep their GOP Senators. Because if the Dems had a bigger majority in the Senate, Pelosi might have impeached them both.

As it is? Better now to focus on the future, which is full of big, BIG problems. Much as it pains me to let Cheney and Bush get away with it.

The similarities between Bush and his war, and Germany, France, England, and Russia, and their war nearly 100 years ago are really creepy. Everyone then thought God, or *Right* anyway, was on their side. All of them waltzed right into a catastrophic world war from which there was no withdrawal. All of them thought the war would be over quickly.

England was offered more than one back-channel possibility of an early peace. So was France. But they did not take them. And once the first one was refused, all others *had* to be refused, because then the respective governments could have been, rightfully, accused of wasting thousands upon thousands of young men for absolutely nothing.

so, that war had to be fought to exhaustion, because none of the politicians, and none of the military men, wanted to be faced with the brutal facts and consequences of their incompetence. These leaders have been judged harshly by history. Perhaps not harshly enough, though, when you think about it.

Bush doesn't even have the excuse of events getting out of his control. The march to war in 1914 was not so easily avoided, once a couple of key events took place. Bush, on the other hand, could have stopped the march at any time. But, immersed over his head in his pool of delusion, he was sure *right* was on his side, and he would be triumphant.

With Bush, it's like watching a 14-year-old, a boy-man who never really grew up, making the most disasterous mess, and then relying on lies--and the adults--to avoid responsibility.

I hope we don't do this again in my lifetime. Offer up leadership of our country to a man who makes Beavis and Butthead look like serious, solid adults. But I fear that our electorate is too ignorant, and vulnerable to manipulation..and our media are in the hands of corporate power that will nearly always side with government..

It's not a good situation, going forward. What worked once to manipulate an ignorant population, will work again. And it will be used again. The Roves among us will not fade away.

Great essay Gary.