Jonathon Darman writes in Newsweek about how more and more politicians in Washington are leaving their families home and how this has affected politics in Washington. This caught my eye:

Without the civilizing influence of spouses and children, Washington has receded into the swamp. Georgetown parties now belong to journalists and lobbyists.

Are lobbyists cozying up to journalists now, hoping to influence their coverage and point of view? That might explain why so much of the news written by the village journalists is so lacking in skepticism...

(Newsweek article: www.newsweek.com/id/142652 see page 2)

Law Professor Jonathan Turley said, "So, we've come to this ignoble moment where we could be forced into a tribunal and forced to face the rule of law that we've refused to apply to ourselves."

I couldn't agree more, but of course such an International tribunal would result in ripping this country apart and pitting us against the rest of the world, possibly violently.

The MSM, the Republicans, the Democrats, and the vast majority of Americans would rally to the defense of all Bush administration officials who did the lawbreaking.

"How dare those effete, cowardly countries criticize our President and his action to keep us safe?!!"

Writers like Glenn, and organizations like the ACLU, and professors like Turley would be branded traitors, and violence against them (and us) would not be discouraged.

I'm afraid America and Americans have officially crossed the line of believing that we are above any law, that the United States is the pinnacle of righteousness, superior to every other nation. Its possible that koolade has done permanent damage that can't be reversed.

I'll bet you that if a poll were taken of "Americans" that asked them if they would welcome having the Bush administration officials who "did the law breaking" have to come before International law the vast majority would say, Hell Yeah!

Now you sound like Broder, et. al. - assuming to know what real Americans think. -heh-

I'm not sure what kind of results a poll question like that would get, but it's one thing to answer a poll question and it's another thing when it is actually threatened, and the the mighty Republican wurlitzer gets going. The reality is the Republicans would strongly oppose the idea of foreign intervention and the MSM would be their megaphone. The Dems would then chime in with their own outrage(including Barack, I suspect) because they don't want to appear "weak." Rush, Hannity and Fox would go ballistic and, though they don't have quite the power they once had, their followers are among the most volatile, and - I suspect - are itching for this kind of fight to defend their bruised leader from foreign attack.

If this seems unlikely and you believe the vast majority of Americans would support foreign intervention, well, I hope you're right and I'm wrong. Maybe I'm too discouraged right now. No matter, I would love to see SOMEONE hold these assh*les accountable!

Cheney has about a 15% approval. Bush, not much better. Let's throw in say Woo, David Addington, maybe Alberto Gonzalez for examples of who else might be of interest. How many people are going to get all up in arms about seeing any of those people in a position to be prosecuted?

It isn't so much who would be prosecuted but what they would be prosecuted for, and by whom. When I try to get people riled up about torture I still hear too many people justify it under the circumstances. Torture has never stirred up the moral outrage I once expected.

Bush and Cheney's approval ratings are exceeding low and the opposition to our occupation of Iraq has also dropped significantly, but I'm not convinced many of those who now oppose the war and disapprove of Bush and Cheney have stopped believing in American Exceptionalism.

But, again, I would be delighted to find out which of us is right by having an international tribunal force us to apply the rule of law if we can't do it ourselves. No country should be allowed to get away with what we've done to those prisoners and detainees.

In fact, the institution of education has become so ineffective that I doubt the average voter knows much of what s/he's voting on, understands the Constitution, or values the role of the press.

While I agree with most of what you have posted today, you might be underestimating the state of our national intelligence.

With Bush's approval rating around 27% and Congress's approval rating is half that, it's obvious the public is very aware of what is going on and they hate it.

The real problem is that most Americans have come to believe that there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, that can be done about it. We no longer feel we are in control of our government. People believe the government is going to do what they want to do, and nothing we say or do can stop it.

That's one reason why Obama has garnered so many enthusiastic supporters. He's convinced a segment of the disaffected voters that he can and will change things for the better. He better deliver or it will only deepen our disaffection.