Mordred rules

It's not surprising that a political party that drove its entire public position for a decade off of perjury traps should view the law as pliable to whatever ends they desire.

A central theme of "Camelot" (the musical, not the Kennedy drama) is that the king is bound by law, too. Republicans such as John Ashcroft (though he's hardly the most extreme) could find no law that they would not run roughshod over. The fact that they would hold a man for more than two weeks on a pretext is just one more in a long series of usurpations.

Yet conservatives now want to refresh the tree of liberty. Glenn Beck thinks (I use the word think metaphorically) President Obama achieved coup by election. There's just no oxy in the man.

The Republican Party is a blight on American politics and, until responsible conservatives excise it, America will be unable to make the rational public policy decisions and compromises that are required for the survival of our democracy.

Omerta

Everything James Comey said was true.

Mr. Ashcroft, the notes said, reviewed his legal objections to the eavesdropping program and complained to Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card that he had been “barred from obtaining the advice he needed on the program by the strict compartmentalization rules of the WH,” a reference to the extreme secrecy imposed by the White House.

Now I understand why John Ashcroft threatened to resign, despite hailing from the right wing of the right-wing Republican Party. The White House wanted carte blanche from him. "Trust us," they said, but he must have been affronted by their refusal to trust him. I would have been.

The only thing that matters to the Bushists is total, unequivocal, personal loyalty. Alberto Gonzales is attorney general because he has it, shows it, flaunts it. He says to Congress, I dare you to try anything against me. I am consigliere to the don.