I suppose it's appropriate that Salon review this book, however I hope that it doesn't sell very well. Real books, as opposed to barely researched propaganda pieces, require research, writing and editing time, and historical books (even though the history is recent) even more so. However a book by a newspaper journalist, containing information that deserved to be made known to an electorate asked to re-elect or not an administration that had taken us to war does not deserve, in my opinion, to make any money if that "news" could have been reported contemporaneously.

If it is indeed true that the paper was approached to keep critical information (both meanings of critical) away from the public when it could have made a difference, it is shocking that this didn't cause a serious reappraisal of the position of the paper. And then to have an employee of the paper that had this information in their capacity as a journalist hold on to it so they could make money off of a book, well, frankly I don't believe he should have a job as a journalist any more either.

This information needed to come out while it mattered. But hey, if nothing else we can say they've learned well from the administration: Screw the public good, do what enriches you.

Honestly, is there any depth that this administration can sink to that still holds the power to surprise? In the last five years, Bush, Cheny, Rumsfeld and their sycophantic followers have dragged this country through such a morass of cruelty, barbarism and good old fashioned corruption that I can scarcely imagine any revelation that would be met with anything more than 'Yeah, that sounds about right...'

'Cheny drinks the blood of virgins in the belief that it will grant him immortality?' 'Eeehh, that makes sense...'

What is most striking about these claims, is not that the Bush Administration would engage in such activity but that the 'Liberal Media' would sit on this kind of a story and withhold the truth from the American people. Their blatant disregard for the people of this country at the behest of an administration that holds they and their profession in utter contempt is a terrifying testament to the weakened state of our democracy.