a lead that tells it like it is

Bush and Cheney's tortured secrecy
By David Cole, for Salon.com


Here's the lead:
"The Bush administration, already arguably the most aggressive advocate of unchecked executive power in the history of the American presidency, has done it again."

Yeah, it's not new news. But isn't it refreshing to see a reporter actually write that sentence?

The thing the Bush administration is doing "again" is claiming executive privilege, this time as a rebuttal to Congressional subpeonas requesting the release of documents and the testimony of two White House counselors as they investigate the U.S. Attorney dismissal scandal.

It's pretty easy to launch into the laundry list of executive power grabbing, Constitution stretching and smashing, and general insane secrecy and legal breaches perpetrated by the regime. Cole does a bit of that, if you are feeling masochistic and want to read about it.

Here's what all this makes me think about though: if we were NOT currently embroiled in the midst of a disastrous and unpopular war (that is, if we were already out, or if it were going really well), would Bush's ratings still be abysmal? I have a very disturbing feeling that they wouldn't be, even though this anti-Constitutional behavior is potentially a much greater crisis than the sectarian sinkhole on the other side of the world.

Iraq is undoubtedly a hugely important issue - it's been a foreign policy blunder that will totally destabilize a vital region (to world peace, religious freedom, human rights, our security, and everyone's access to energy) for a long time. But the erosion of our own Constitutional system is potentially even more far-reaching, if not for the whole world, then at least for those of us marooned in the US.

I really hope we start thinking about our priorities in hatred here: what has been Bush's bigger sin? Or at least, why are we satisfied with an '08 field who criticize the hell out of the war, but remain mum on the reckless and illegal ballooning of executive power (save Ron Paul)?