The notion of Republican administrations feeling powerless and restrained under the Constitution did begin with Nixon, but the idea of everyone getting off scot free didn't start until Iran/Contra. After Watergate, Magruder, Dean, Liddy, Mitchell, Ehrlichman, and Haldeman served real time in the hoosegow.... only Nixon got away with it. "If the president does it, it is not illegal."

It is this unfortunate occurrence, and the pesky and incriminating confessions it produced, that taught Republicans how the game is played, and they've been improving it ever since.

gc_wall and Kitt... Thanks for saving me several keystrokes. Can you hear the crickets yet?

Oomoex sez, "How did you score three wives?" Cocktailhag sez, "It couldn't possibly be his personality."

Congratulations, Arne, and thanks for posting the pics. I"d wish you a lifetime of happiness, but I bet that's unnecessary. I hope you don't end up in the doghouse for not asking permission.

Pinky... Your post on the last page was as endearing as it was heart-rending. I remember when this vile war was about to start, and I constantly found myself with tears in my eyes, and I'm not the crying kind. The horror, waste, and utter futility of war is something we all understand as human beings on a deep level, and why Tom "Suck on this" Friedman, George "Feelin' good" Bush, and Dick "So?" Cheney are so despicable and horrifying. They make us all less human.

Keep up the good work, as you know who might say, because that's all we can do.

That bag says it all.... Was that sponsorship in the works before the amnesty got passed? Does it even matter. It's so nice that these bloated, unaccountable monopolies just now "discovered" the Democrats, who were once just wallflowers at the plutocrat cotillion.

I wonder what other accessories will go with that purse....

A KBR surge supressor?

An Exxon/Mobil bus pass?

A Countrywide cardboard box?

A UnitedHealth sympathy card?

I don't think it's entirely fair to compare politicians to whores. It makes whores look bad. They perform a desired service, and charge a fair price for it. Politicians, on the other hand, take in thousands and hand out billions. It would be like a hooker charging a nickel for a BJ and then handing over a coupon for the next five free.

From the moment the Bush Administration rejected participation in the International Criminal Court, the die was cast that the US was headed down this sorry course. Many of us wondered at the time why they would choose such and aberrant, in-your-face, gesture, but now it's abundantly clear that long before 9/11, the administration intended to arrogantly thumb its nose at long-standing traditions of human rights and lawful conduct.

Fortunately for them, they have been aided, extravagantly, by a supine media that believes, as they do, that if WE do it, it's, well, different.

One must wonder whether any of these cretins, from Condi Rice to the beltway blatherers, even see the black humor in their pious condemnations of those whose behavior simply mirrors their own, and even notice that the world's dictators snicker while the Washington Post somehow keeps a straight face.

It would be comical if it weren't so sad.

What I learned reading the comments today is, depressingly, kind of the same thing Glenn learned, but more so. What I'm seeing is that the most assertive and dogmatic posters are those who would argue that Democrats will beat the Republicans by emulating them. Huh?

While I suppose that the collapsing economy, the future of choice, the war, the courts, etc. are critically important, these are exactly the areas where the Blue Dogs are at their worst, providing the far right with bipartisan cover for extremist and destructive policies. More importantly, I see no advantage in having tepid, often unreliable support on these core issues, along with abject and fawning capitulation on the larger constitutional questions, simply because it comes with a D after it. Considering the growing number of red state Republicans like Barr, Hagel, Paul, and many others willing to loudly and explicitly break with Bushism of late, I think it's both pragmatic and even preferable to take a chance that a Republican replacing a Blue Dog might be actually better for the country at this point.

Republicans, for all their flaws, are smart enough to see that their brand is terribly damaged, and distancing themselves from their party is their only hope of political survival. Blue Dogs, on the other hand, seem frozen in the red, white, and blue amber of 2002, wherein "The War on Terror" is utterly sacrosanct and their future depends on saluting the Leader.

Truman was right when he said that given a choice between a Republican and a Democrat who votes like one, the people will choose the Republican every time.

Let them.

Congress is NOT going Republican, and the White House is the Democrat's to lose in this election.

Pragmatism, properly understood, dictates that it's time to let go of the neocons in donkey suits.

Plisko, Timelagged, Kitt, et al....

Yes, I think an infestation did occur today, and I agree that it seemed too timely, desperate, and coordinated to dismiss as "grassroots." I think they've all fallen silent because O'Reilly's coming on.

They'll be back tanned, rested, and ready, like Nixon after a weekend at Key Biscayne, to fight another day. Good thing they all have the same points, and argue them so poorly.