The republicrats and evangelicrats must be beside themselves. One bad story after another. They were lied into a war, and up to 3 months ago McCain/Palin were telling our country the economy was good, and the "fundamentals strong." Now, yesterday, we discover their lies again and that the counntry has been in a recession which started over a year ago. The majority of citizens of the most wonderful country on the planet saw thru their lies. Our country deserves a better opposition that the "rats" I have just described. Liars, cheats, hypocrites.....

Frankly, the best chance for meaningful, timely accountability with respect to President Bush and Vice President Cheney may already have been missed.

This was the election campaign, which was run by Barack Obama and the Democrats mostly against John McCain. References -- by Obama in particular -- to Bush were generally restricted to bloodless, sytlized campaign rhetoric about "the failed policies of the last eight years" that assumed voters already knew exactly what they disliked about that period.

This tack ignored two fundamental facts about the American political landscape. The first was that by the 2008 campaign most American voters did not just disapprove of President Bush's policies; they were sick unto death of Bush personally (Cheney, though less widely known and discussed, was even less popular, and bush's dependence on him was a theme the Democrats never explored). The second was that the greatest source of public doubt about Obama stemmed from his short time in national public life and the consequent uncertainty about what kind of President he would be. The easiest way for someone who has never been President to reduce those doubts is to define the way he operates against a point of reference, which the very unpopular Bush provided.

This was an advantage Obama did not take advantage of enough to make the election explicitly a referendum on Bush and Cheney. The unpopularity of the Republican President was the one necessary condition to any Democrats election this year, but Obama's team -- following campaign convention -- chose not to view this as an opportunity to be exploited. They chose instead the more conventional course of reliance on a massive fundraising advantage, timely responses to every initiative from the McCain campaign, and get out the vote activities to get across the finish line first. They thus left an opening now for defenders of President Bush to argue that the 2008 election was not really about him, his Vice President, or the mistakes and failures for which they were responsible.

No one should count on the courts to do what people in electoral politics are unwilling to. What's done is done as far as the 2008 campaign is concerned; some opportunities come once, and never again. This was one of them.

>> the whole thins seemed kind irresponsible, if not silly.

The whole "thins" seemed irresponsible? Spellcheck dood!

Just as I expected. This stuff was nonsense. Anyone who walks his goats to court needs to have his head examined, much less bring up indictment charges against Cheney.

As much as it's fun to see Cheney and Gonzalez get indicted, the DA who pushed it through the grand jury is a showboating loon. As we say here in Texas, a DA can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich if he wants to.

This story has been a farcical sideshow from the start, and never warranted the media attention it got in the first place.

Pelosi already said that impeachment is "off the table". So, if congressional leadership is not willing to pursue wrongdoing, why should it be the next president's job? He's got enough on his plate as it is.

Congress had plenty of opportunity to follow-up and investigate crimes. Instead, they let themselves be stonewalled or, in the case of Lieberman, turned a blind eye. Pelosi keeps the Speakership, Lieberman keeps his gavel, nobody cares.

All I can say for Bush is that it's a good thing a blow job wasn't involved or he would've been tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail.

They chose instead the more conventional course of reliance on a massive fundraising advantage, timely responses to every initiative from the McCain campaign, and get out the vote activities to get across the finish line first.

It's amazing to see how fast the pendulum is swinging to criticism of Obama because he is starting to govern exactly the way he said he would.

Personally, I think the most progressive cause is a government that works and works for the people. Everything he'd done since the election (and before) points to Obama restoring to us that sort of government. So in my book, that makes him progressive.

Have a government that works and is responsive, and (I believe) all the other near-and-dear causes will get addressed naturally.

Steve, sorry you're putting out the wrong spin on this. But, given that Cheney has stock in the holding company that controls Wackenhut, and that the Willacy state pen is operated by a Wackenhut subsidiary, this isn't such a "conspiracy theory."

But, it's complicated by the local state senator (Eddie Lucio Jr.) also being named in the indictment. (Deservedly so.)

Really, it was an indictment of the private prison system, a topic avoided by most mainstream Dems and Republicans alike.

Perhaps Guerra is a little over-the-top, but it's a breath of fresh air for a DA to do this.

So, Andy, there's somebody else in Texas disagreeing with your take on the situation.

I'm waiting to see what becomes of The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.