Stooge means "idiot lackey." Cheney is nobody's "stooge." He is the boss. If anybody is the thrid stooge, it's Bush--although Cheny treats the rest of America as if we are all his stooges.

Sidney, for laying out straightforward and forcefully what we've all felt and known for a long time ... if only the mainstream media would bluntly lay this out to the American people ... too bad they are as dumb and lazy as Gonzo....

In this we are no different from the soviet union, where government leaders could usually count on a fat, protected retirement, no matter their crimes.

So it'll be with Bush and Cheney, Rove and Gonzalez, Addington and Rice. They will all go to a fat retirement, protected by a power structure that dares not call them to account. That actively protects them, in fact.

It has been every thus in this country, with almost no exceptions. Nothing short of revolution would change it..and, even then, reflexively, the system would snap back to what it was before, just with new players, for a time.

Our system is broken. It's probably been broken periodically since the country was founded. It's broken now. Question is, will we fix it this time?

Though I'd offer a bit of stylistic criticism I often have of Blumenthal's pieces.

His pieces would benefit by a more alluring reverse pyramid format. His initial summary is often a bit vague, or generalized towards conclusions that are already known or suspected to a large extent.

I'm often left wondering after the first couple grafs whether the following pages will contain new information or insight, or whether it will be a cataloging of information and conclusions already known for the most part.

In the internet era, when there are so many sources of information, the reverse pyramid is more important than ever. Not to discount in-depth coverage and opinion, but it's only useful if read at all.

And so are our Politicians.

When will they do the work that needs to be done to finally hold these rodeo clowns accountable for their crimes?

These guys cannot and will not give up the power. They have committed too many crimes to allow anyone - not a member of the Republican crime syndicate - to follow them in office.

They stole the White House twice, and God knows how many other seats in Congress. The media is complicit, the house organs of the military-industrial complex, remember them? (Bertelsmann AG (publishing), CBS Corp. (as split from Viacom), Disney (ABC), General Electric (NBC), News Corp (FOX), and TimeWarner (CNN) together own more than 90% of the media holdings in the United States. This was before Murdoch bought the Wall Street Journal.)

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

"We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961

Present Eisenhower saw what was coming all too clearly. An alert and knowledgeable citizenry? I wish.

Why should the Republicans give up the power? All the pieces are in place for them to declare martial law. Bush could declare any of us terrorist sympathizers, seize our property, and disappear us. Today. Tonight. Tomorrow. The laws are in place.

The great experiment, the great dream of our democracy was destroyed on Nov. 22, 1963. The powers that be, that were, knew exactly what they were doing by killing JFK, RFK, MLK.

Why are the democrats are still laying down is beyond me. Why Nancy Pelosi took impeachment "off the table" suggests a naivete, or just plain stupidity, in the face of the most dangerous gang that has ever come to power in the USA.

Now, before their terms expire. I do not understand exactly why Tio Torture Gonzales must stay in office. W. Bush could accept his resignation and then commute or pardon.

Does not matter. Please just keep after these guys.

If the framers of the US Declaration of Independence could see the current state of the Presidency they would roll over in their graves and puke dust.

But they wouldn't be sickened by Bush and Cheney et al; they understood all to well that power has always had the power to corrupt. It's the general populace that would make them ill.

American democracy has been hijacked and America's laziness is to blame.

Thomas Jefferson never intended the phrase "The price of democracy is eternal vigilance" to become nothing more than a Jeopardy answer. He intended it to be a warning about future Presidents exactly like George Bush.

To preserve the US way of life Americans need to storm the White House and remove the current leaders. And it needs to be done before the idea becomes illegal.

Not to sound cynical, but so what? I'm not doubting all of the claims in this article are true, but if congress isn't going to do anything about it what good is it to point it out? We elected these people to hold Bush accountable and restore some semblance of checks and balances. They have not, and now it may be another couple generations before we know the full extent of the damage this marionette president has caused or enabled. And the congress wonders why their poll numbers are lower then the idiot who gets his orders from his invisible friend Jesus.

The article is very good-but the problem is that we have to get rid of Gonzales. That much is clear, but who and how to do it is the biggest problem.

I've read where Congress has the power to impeach him-will someone there please do this as to remove the entire stack of cards?

Because, if Blumenthal's reasoning is correct (that Bush is protecting everyone with Gonzales' body) then everything will become crystal clear when the dust settles.

I once wrote the NY Times about Gonzales (back in March), and pointed out that he wasn't going anywhere. Sad to say, I was proven correct as events have unfolded.

I'd like to be right again, that he can be taken down; but the trick is doing it right and correctly, so none of the other fish in the net can escape.

Otherwise, we're stuck with this mess for another year.

I don't know if the Constitution can stand much more trampling...

These guys have been crooks since day one. Before day one. Way, way before day one. As if we didn't know what kind of vermin they were. Yet not only were they able to take control of the RNC, but then they took the entire country as well, and we sat dumbly watching it happen. And we still sit dumbly and watch as they loot everything they can get their hands on. And still a third of us approve of, aye, even admire these folks. Fore Vidal calls it the United States of Amnesia (a nation of ADS suffers), I call it the United States of Apathy. We deserve them . . .

no wonder they all have those sh!t-eating smirks on their faces.

See subject line.