If it makes you feel any better, we the public have no evidence that he's done anything bad. All the evidence is secret to us and even what the court saw was produced after this guy was in a black hole for three years (signatures, fingerprints, etc. -- who knows where they came from).

In other words, you should feel sorry; I do. You should, that is, unless you think the Bush administration's word is good enough to be taken on faith.

It's six months out. If we care about polling now, why not condense this painful election season so I don't have to be depressed about my democratic choices for so long.

I haven't seen anyone show me how a Clinton or Obama presidency would be that different from a Bush presidency.

Yes, they would probably spin much better and appear more competent. But in the long run, will the oil, arms and banking industries still not control our major policies?

Will healthcare still be determined by hospital conglomerates and insurance companies?

Will small flaws in foreign leaders who buck rampant capitalism be blown out of proportion while evil tyrants who kill their own population to protect global business get away with little to no scrutiny?

The answers to all these questions are obvious to any honest observer. Whether or not I have a slightly less embarrassing president that feigns fealty (at least on the margins) to a handful of small liberal issues really doesn't matter at this late hour for the human race.

Nice Tim. 3,721 = no standing to complain. What about close to a million dead, an army occupying your land, all hallmarks of civilization now smashed, and none of it by your own choosing?

I guess Tim Grieve's version of democracy is that you let your invading army tell you how to operate your government because you owe them so much.

...congratulations to Obama for saying that. On the other, he is guilty of doing it too. Had he just started telling it like it is when his campaign began, he would have the base rallied better than he does and would be ahead in the polls. Maybe he'll start tomorrow.

Of course the government doesn't function -- it's a powerless US creation in the middle of a US-created civil war.

What idiot would expect Iraqis to be able to put together abstract-minded founders of enlightened democracy -- especially with the U.S. pulling the strings?

The real story: US fails in Iraq -- and will fail. We are alone in responsibility. You didn't need an NIE for that.

"What idiot," I asked, would blame the Iraqis for our mess. Guess the anonymous poster before me sort of answered the question.

"We Voted to Give Gonzales New Power Only After Decrying His Power"

Oh wait, more than 40 characters -- just like the Democrats.

I'll try again:

"Democrats: Not just for breakfast anymore!"

"Democrats: Business friendly with better taste!"

"Democrats: At least we wish we cared."

"Democrats: We're not Republicans."

He was a tool as will be the next AG. All they have to do is find someone the Democrats believe lacks the public dirty laundry to raise a stink over (Chertoff would have been a perfect stooge, but it looks like Katrina might have something to say about that).

In any case, nothing changes. We need to stop missing the forests for trees like Gonzales.

As Greenwald points out, Bush can just keep nominating people the Dems will reject (or buckle under and support) and keep dependably corrupt Paul Clement in there. The result is that all the time and air are taken up with hearings that won't matter.

The problem here is that Democrats are in a bind: either don't take hearings seriously, or derail all other actions of Congress. If you're Bush and you don't give a shit about the nation (and would happily derail Congress from actual oversight), it's perfect.

On a recent flight to Houston I found myself sitting next to a newly enlisted Marine and a KBR contractor -- strangers to each other and both en route to Iraq. The Marine was reading a book by Thomas Sowell. While a rash assumption, I guessed from their conversation and the look and demeanor of the Marine that the mere act of reading an African American author confirmed to him his open mind.

You have to think, given this administration's callous disregard for even "the troops" that it uses as a political crutch, that Cheney and his players hold all life but their own beneath contempt. Look at Katrina. Look at Fallujah. Look at military healthcare. Look at all the dead Iraqis.

Given the crass pursuit of war profits and power, at any cost, why is it so out of the realm of logic to be concerned that a Cheney stooge might be the one setting off that next bomb? Certainly they have more to gain than anyone -- they profited from 9/11 more than anyone, and boy did they milk it dry. Is it that the public just can't believe white people or Americans are genetically capable of evil?

Your posts are the most thorough, relevent blog entries on Salon and most of the web. Not only are the topics important, but your angle is always one that needs exposure. Thanks.