there will be no investigation into what transpired. Because it's over, no need to dig into old wounds, it was a "painful" period, let's get it behind us, we need to wind down this war, fix the economy, etc.

So guys like Yoo, who are further emboldened and radicalized, can be trotted out in another 4 to 8 years and do worse.

There were a number of Iran Contra figures involved in the fiasco that is the Iraq war.

I'm so sick of hearing the damn excuse of Republicans poisoning the well of impeachment by what they did to Clinton. It seemed so horribly shocking to witness this Rovian Executive branch over the past 7 1/2 years completely politicize everything. The Democrats were always quick to point this out, yet the irony of the Democrats playing a very similar game of politicizing themselves with torture and FISA cannot be overlooked. The Sternly Worded Letters were fun and cute to write up, but the fact that no one has been prosecuted or has gone beyond the level of silly threats speaks volumes about their intentions. And this may sound a bit crazy to say, but it almost appears like they have a slight bout of envy with how well this Administration has played politics with all issues. They appear to have noticed that the MSM hasn't cried too terribly loudly on these two main issues, and the sinking economy with rising gas prices, banks going under, and housing foreclosures appear to be a much more pressing issue to the public in the short term.

I just hope they aren't taking notes on how this Administration plays politics, but I'm beginning to think they might have already made a copy of the Rove playbook.

As I said a few threads ago is that our we've stopped eduacting our children about our History and Constitution. Whether this is by accidant or design is left for the conspiracy minded to argue over, but if as you said in the lead "The Constitution doesn't poll well" it's because we've abdicated responsibility for creating and promoting citizenship. We can argue at length about whether it's appropriate to have a draft or a 'national service program' for youth (I strenuously oppose both) but is it too much to ask that people be at least passingly familiar with their Nation's founding documents?

I find this especially galling when the folks who try to claim the mantle of "loving America" and "Patriotism" are the same ones most Hell-bent on dismantling the very framework on which our Freedom is based.

You've done GREAT work on the FISA issue but life goes on. The fact is Americans are and have always been lawless. We simply pay lip service to the so-called rule of law as it pleases us for other reasons. For instance, you seem to have forgotten Bill Clinton in your survey of presidential law-breaking. . . . Oh, that's right: that's not what you mean by the rule of law. That was . . . a Democrat . . . it was just perjury . . . and only about sex . . . . Whatever. Face reality: the law in this country is a means not an end. Perhaps that is how it should be, perhaps not. But that's how it is.

The only way to alter this dynamic is for the electorate to start caring about this behavior and vote out of office those that support it. Equally unfortunate is the reality that the American people have very little control over the federal government because the only access to the government is through their elected representatives. There is no process by which an initiative can be brought by the people themselves, any and all initiatives must be brought through an elected body, thus neatly allowing the "ruling class" to perpetuate this kind of behavior.

This is why it was such a bad idea to cede so much authority that belongs to the states to the federal government. This previous behavior is why the states depend on the federal government - in Missouri for example close to half of the state's budget comes from the federal government which makes the states nothing more than a client of the federal government and allows the feds to dictate to the states.

We're screwed.

You're statement would have more value if it weren't utterly and appallingly wrong.

You are clearly unfamiliar with the folks around here and are also failing to notice that the very people being taken to task in this article are Democrats.

Hint for trolls. Read the post before you comment. You'll look much less idiotic as a result.

I would argue that's Clinton's lawbreaking was investigated, quite thoroughly. He was impeached.

"'I think that accountability was brought in 2006 when [the GOP] lost in the House and the Senate,' Ford said."

In what way? How was the incumbent president be held accountable, how was he punished by losing the Republican majorities in Senate and House? Actually the new Congress did and does what he wants - even more so than when there was a Republican majority.

Ford essentially says, accountability in politics is just numbers shifting without any real consequences. This is the biggest disregard of the voters, hence democracy, imaginable, 'whatever you vote, it has no consequences upon what we do; it's just about names.'

How do we prevent this kind of thing from happening over and over again if we can't hold the lawbreakers accountable?

We have a class of people who desire nothing more than to be elevated to the modern version of the noble class. It seems that from start to finish every politician want to go higher in the ranks of the modern nobility (politics). The mayor wants to a congress person and the congress person wants to be a senator and a senator wants to be a Cabinet Secretary and so on. In the days of old elevation to the nobility brought wealth and protection from the laws that the commoners had to live under thier entire life. We even have politicians passing thier former positions to thier children like a hereditary title. I am not sure what disturbs me most, that this is so blatently done or that no one seems to even care.