Actually, I think WinSmith's psychotic state was the by-product of a traumatic early dining experience. One night he demanded chicken for dinner but his parents said, "eat your fish or you'll be damned to a life of complete irrelevance."... Needless to say, he didn’t eat the fish ... I hope the chicken was worth it.

It's interesting that Jeffrey Goldberg, a cross-dressing, hermaphrodite and pedophile, wanted in Utah on bestiality charges, would recklessly throw around baseless character slurs.

The crimes that have been committed were committed by individuals in the Bush Administration. Trying to confuse those lawbreaking Americans with 'The Embodiment of All Things American’ is the same crap that the GOP pulled at the beginning of their unprovoked attack on Iraq. If you opposed their – the GOP’s – blood-thirsty actions you were somehow shitting on Abraham Lincoln, apple pie, and baseball. It’s interesting how GOP officials believe their actions represent ‘All Things American’ when it suits their needs, but when it works to their disadvantage (such as adhering to our Constitution) then they can’t be bothered with ‘All Things American.’

In a 2005 poll by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, an overwhelming percentage of Americans (including Republicans) approved having cases of war crimes being sent to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in regards to Darfur. I wonder what a similar poll might indicate if Americans were asked about American lawbreakers being held liable for their war crimes at the ICC.

http://oldsite.globalsolutions.org/press_room/press_releases/press_releases05/icc_darfur_poll.html

"In July 2004, another CCFR poll displayed that 82 percent of respondents (and 83 percent of Republicans) favored trying terrorists at the ICC, and that 75 percent of Americans supported U.S. participation with the Court."

In the case of Darfur, the Bush administration opposed using the ICC in favor of a tribunal because they believed the ICC encouraged political vendettas. That’s apparently a one-size-fits-all excuse for ignoring criminal behavior.

But if he had put prosecuting Bush officials as his first priority when we are in the midst of a true crisis..

-- btdenver

Aside from the notion that the economic mess is a "true crisis", unlike the Bush administration's slightly irksome crimes against humanity, why is there a constant attempt to ignore the ability to both walk AND chew gum? Last I checked there were more than 2 or 3 people working in the District of Columbia. It's not as if Obama would be physically prosecuting lawbreakers. If Bush could tank the economy, spy on the America people, setup concentration camps, shock and awe a sovereign nation, and create an astronomical deficit, Obama can probably work on both our economic nightmare AND our human rights abuses.

The WSJ comments section on this piece is also a study in dissonance. Apparently, the last 8 years didn't happen, the GOP has been the long-suffering, sensible ones on the sidelines whose views are never heard, and Obama is the "messiah" not the guy who told the world Jesus Christ gave him the greenlight to shock 'n awe Iraq.

While the Bush administration used the 'secrets act" broadly, that is not what the Obama administration is planning on doing. They will use it more 'sparingly' case per case.

-- bernbart

And Santa Claus only gives gifts to the good little boys and girls because he knows what's best.

"By changing the position of the Bush Administration only three weeks in, Obama could short circuit the ongoing process and open himself up to charges of a "political prosecution" of the Bush Administration".

-- John PM

I can't think of one example of how that could hurt him. The media would yell & pontificate, but the American people despise the media. The righwing would yell & pontificate, but they have long since lost all credibility. Considering the climate in America right now, a political prosecution of the group that tanked our economy and caused unemployment to skyrocket, would make Obama a significantly stronger leader both at home and abroad.

The bizarre notion that Obama must find common ground with the chronically incompetent, mentally vacant, intellectually devoid, morally bankrupt rightwing is a belief he needs to abandon immediately.

There are not ‘two points of view that deserve equal time’ as our national media believes when one of the "views" is the 100% destructive, failed ideology of conservatism. These are the same clowns who 6 years believed their messiah, Dubya, was talking to Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ told him its was okie-dokie to attack Iraq without provocation and torture and murder all the innocent people he wanted! So, instead of admitting how stupid they were to have a religious faith and blind Jesus-worship in Bush, they've decided that anyone who wants Obama to succeed views Obama as a "savior" and a "messiah".

It’s amazing how quick they think people have forgotten what conservatism has done to this country as if we're not living in it's devastating aftermath. Such a pathetic attempt to blame others for their own idiocy is par for the course when you're dealing with a party whose leader a drug-addled radio shock jock.

Obama should make it clear that he will no longer work with asshole rightwingers. It's like a fireman trying to find common ground with a pyromaniac. Their leader, Drug Limbaugh, has stated in unequivocal terms he wants America to fail rather than undo the clusterfuck mess of conservatism on this country

Since Greenwald is an advocate for dead Jews in Israel his opinions are largely meaningless.

-- DanielGree

And the opinions of someone unable to make an honest argument due to their bigotry and racism is also meaningless.