I just saw Jon Meacham on Scarborough saying that Newsweek's cover story that Glenn talked about the other day was a "reality check" for the country. Joe, Pat and Jon then proceeded to downplay the Bush crimes. Because these kind of voices control the media narrative it's very hard to see how we can fire up the public enough that they will pressure Obama and the media to hold these criminals accountable. Moyers, Olbermann and Maddow frequently present other voices on this issue but we need more. Does anyone know how we can get more people on these shows who can articulate why we must hold the Bush criminals accountable?

All those Obama worshippers who think we shouldn't criticize Obama should remember Obama's own words on the subject.

"I learned long ago, when working as an organizer on the South Side of Chicago, that when citizens join their voices together, they can hold their leaders accountable. I'm not exempt from that. I'm certainly not perfect, and expect to be held accountable too. I cannot promise to agree with you on every issue. But I do promise to listen to your concerns, take them seriously, and seek to earn your ongoing support to change the country. That is why we have built the largest grassroots campaign in the history of presidential politics, and that is the kind of White House that I intend to run as president of the United States -- a White House that takes the Constitution seriously, conducts the peoples' business out in the open, welcomes and listens to dissenting views, and asks you to play your part in shaping our country's destiny.

MSNBC just had a good discussion about what is happening in Gaza. The reason they had a good discussion was because they had Queen Noor of Jordan as a guest. She was driving the discussion and made everyone move towards her position which is the same position that Glenn has been arguing.

"There is just a yawning disconnect between the nature of the crimes allegedly committed (and, in many cases, essentially admitted): waging aggressive war, torture, secret prisons, illegal wiretapping on a massive scale, obstruction of justice, perjury, conspiracy -- to the point where it would probably take an army of Patrick Fitzgeralds and a full-time war crimes tribunal a year just to catalogue them all -- and how the story is being treated in the corporate media. . . ."

When WaPo had a discussion the other day about the Bush/Cheney legacy I submitted the following question. Naturally my question was not answered.

Can you explain why there is such a disconnect between average Americans, who strongly believe that in order to restore the rule of law in this country Obama must have the Justice Dept. investigate and prosecute Bush administration war crimes, and the beltway insiders who inexplicably advocate a let bygones be bygones - we must move on opinion concerning Bush administration war crimes? Why do the insiders advocate a two tiered system of justice in this country?

I was so irritated to see another beltway media personality push the let bygones be bygones defense of Bush war criminals that I posted three times on the Ignatius column! Who needs coffee in the morning when you can get your blood pumping by reading about war crimes apologists.

We Need an Anti-Establishment Grand Alliance

Yes we do!

After watching the Scarborough tape, where he browbeats the female guest about her opinions on torture, I'm reminded of Zbigniew Brezinski's comment to him when Joe pretended to be an expert about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict:

"You know, you have such a stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on that it's almost embarrassing to listen to you."

This is a comment that can be used for just about everything Scarborough says.

I'd like to see the liberal and libertarian blogs join together to ask all of their readers to write a brief essay on why the Obama administration MUST prosecute Bush administration crimes. They could give everyone until the Monday after inauguration to get a hard copy sent c/o the blog or one designated location. The people receiving all of the essays could then submit all of the essays to each major media outlet, Congress, the Justice Dept., the White house, etc. Having these essays arrive all at once would be very powerful. We could even give a heads up to Olbermann, Maddow, Moyers, etc. so that they could cover what was being done.

If no one is willing to deal with all that paper then the blogs could direct their readers to mail them before a certain date. Either way it is done it would be a good way to puncture, if only for a day, the beltway's refusal to understand that they are on the wrong side of history asking us to let bygones be bygones.

Newsweek has yet another pathetic piece about excusing the Bush administration torture.

The Politics Of Vengeance

Obama should avoid the blame game on Bush's security failing

Link to article in my sig.

The WaPo did a poll about torture. The link is in my sig.

On Torture

A majority of Americans in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll oppose the use of torture in terrorism investigations, backing Barack Obama's pledge that "under my administration, the United States does not torture." But there's an even split on whether he should investigate whether laws were broken in the way suspects were treated under the Bush administration.