I came to post a comment about The Dixie Chicks and see that Jon Dubya beat me to it!

It is worth mentioning however because I think this example is even more clear-cut than the Al Gore example. You had a group that was extremely popular within the country music industry and their lead singer makes one comment about how she is ashamed that Bush was from Texas, and they get blacklisted by country music. The familiar image of bulldozers running over their CD's comes to mind when I think back to those days. Amazing!

In having conversations about this incident with various people ever since, some admit that their banishment may have been extreme, but almost always I hear some type of justification because they spoke these words "on foreign soil" and that they "didn't have the courage" to say it here (whatever that means). I think that example goes right along with your piece Glenn and is relevent to this discussion.

Nothing made me more proud to see the Dixie Chicks rebound (granted it was years later with a more "folk" oriented CD) with the release of the "Not Ready to Make Nice" single and the subsequent awards that they won. Still noteworthy however that while they got some play on country radio, they still lost a lot of fans because of this sole incident.

I see a continued confusion that emerges when those who are opposed to investigations advance their arguments. This confusion is their failure to distinguish between political retribution and a fundamental commitment to adhering to the rule of law.

Members of the beltway media as well as pundits and politicians continually frame this issue as "far-left Bush haters" who want to criminalize the policies of the previous administration. Those opposed to investigations are choosing to view everything through a political lens, almost as if they are incapable of viewing the issue any other way. It is not the so-called "far-left Bush haters" that are blinded by ideology and wish to prosecute the political decisions of the Bush Administration. Ironically, those who continue to see this issue their political rose-colored glasses are blinded by a system where every issue has to be broken down into Democrats versus Republicans.

What we are talking about is fundamental and with every wiretapping program, torture program, and secret assassination squad program that comes to light, anyone who values adherence to the rule of law should be calling for an independent criminal investigation into the actions of the previous administration. This goes beyond politics and oddly enough those who continue to say we "shouldn't be criminalizing political differences" are guilty of what they are accusing "far-left Bush haters" of - making it a political issue.

Investigating a failure to adhere to the rule of law is not the same as criminalizing political differences. .

This is one of my favorite posts in recent memory. It perfectly sums up how things have come full circle and correctly underlines how the public discourse has been flipped on its head in such a short amount of time.

These are interesting times and more than ever are we in need of independent voices that are dedicated to finding the truth.

This link is much better than the one I posted before. Sorry for the confusion:

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6780036

Frank makes some great points about this issue.

Glenn, I don't know if you saw Barney Frank's discussion on Defense spending on ABC this weekend, but it relates quite well to this topic. Take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXE64CFXpVs&feature=related

All of this talk from the Administration about regaining a level of bipartisanship would make you think that the Congress has been divided over the last 8 years. How soon we forget:

FISA

The authorization of force on Iraq

The Military Commissions Act

The renewal of the Patriot Act

Just to name a few off the top of my head, but there are many more instances where Congressional Democrats "reached across the aisle" to fully support often unchanged versions of legislation that propelled us toward this moment that we are in. Focusing efforts on renewing bipartisanship is to focus on one issue that really hasn't been a problem over the last eight years. The problem (for Democrats) is that it was easier to cave into the Republicans when the Republicans controlled the Exectuive Branch.

All the more reason for progressive groups to pressure Obama over the next four years.

It is astounding some of the conversations that I have had with those who are upset over the closure of this facility. I have also been writing about this issue at my blog (linked to in my signiture) and find it amazing that people do not connect the fact that just because people are imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, does not mean they are guilty. Quite an easy concept as Glenn points out, but there are numerous people who defend that viewpoint by saying "but these are some of the most dangerous terrorists that are on the face of the Earth!"

It is quite an alarming debate!