I also have about half a hunch that Sarah’s little hissy is a faint pale echo of a mockery of a sham of the same idea, just botched like hell. Or maybe just a spotlight-stealer. As per her inimitable norm.

If there is a solid case, then it should simply be developed and brought to the Court.

We have enough trouble making Congress work without the confusion of ‘the past’ and the present being thrown in together. In fact, one of the biggest problems we have is where the awful past insinuates itself into our present and we have trouble disentangling ourselves from it.

Of course, for someone like the president it is very appealing to think a lot of that can be pushed aside, so the present can be dealt with more easily. Recent events have not been so simple and it really isn’t appropriate (IMO) to do that. We need to understand the past better and clarify that in people’s minds, so American can release from that and move forward with a sound foundation. A murky understanding of one’s past can lead to no good. Same for a nation. That’s one reason I hate to hear anyone dredge up Vietnam wrt Bush & Co or AfPak. It may be relevant in some ways, but mostly it just makes people feel bad.

The Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rove, Bush, (even) Paulson and Kerry bunch all dredge up Nixon and all that. It’s unfortunate they were ever able to still be around in government. Makes me wonder what Biden’s role was back when he first got into the Senate. It’s mostly all bad — a bad time in American history.

One of the big problems today is how to sequence the things we need to do. It’s difficult to say we MUST go back and deal with the past before the financial crisis or Al Qaeda or health insurance reform. But, the longer one puts it off the longer the confusion persists. It’s a real problem.

He wasn’t AWOL. He just expected whatever was supposed to be done was done, didn’t give a rat’s butt whether the law or the public cared otherwise.

we’re talking matter for the historical record.

prosecutable conduct.

possible jail time.

This does not look good on his resume.

Cheney, Rummy, Haynes, Yo – They are all guilty as hell. Rummy had intent, Cheney had intent. The lawyers knew the intent. Haynes facilitated a circus around the intent.

I don’t believe for one minute that their unity won’t fracture under the pressure of any credible crimminal probe. The lawyers might be laying under the bus, but they’ll yelp as the front tire goes over them.

I just hate that it’s taking so long in the face of such unmistakable evidence.

However, I have recently come up with an idea of why Obama continues to hold back the bus –

Obama has a legislative adgenda — What better thing to hold over the R’s head than letting the lid blow off torture. So desperate is their desire to keep their precious Bush Cabal out of jail that they’ll trade ANYTHING to keep real prosecution from happening. Hell, many R Senators are likely co-conspirators.

“Okay boys, we’ll make it look good but you’re giving me healthcare, or I’ll call the AG and the whole damn lot of you can sit in jail with Cheney.”

With a hammer like this O has no excuse for failures with legislation. I can sit through the shoe, but if he doesn’t deliver by the curtain something is seriously wrong.

The understanding – which required little conspiracy – was that the minions would stick their necks in the grinder willingly, and the entire apparatus would be assured the protections offered by the machinations of a political organization which would in turn assure a permanent majority. The only time they ever regret this process is when somebody muffs up their obligations to the rest of the hive.

In this respect you may be correct that Rummy does not have appear to deliberately and forcefully soil his hands shoving Haynes under the wheels in an attempt to protect himself; perhaps a better analogy is the exercise of imperium or dominion. Haynes is supposed to be the firewall, period, there need be no question. One need only look at Rummy’s handling of the termination of OSI to see this on display:

“And then there was the Office of Strategic Influence. You may recall that. And ‘oh my goodness gracious isn’t that terrible, Henny Penny the sky is going to fall.’ I went down that next day and said fine, if you want to salvage this thing fine I’ll give you the corpse. There’s the name. You can have the name, but I’m gonna keep doing every single thing that needs to be done and I have. That was intended to be done by that office is being done by that office, NOT by that office in other ways.”

No regard for optics given in advance, or for any other inconveniences like legality here; this thing will be done, period.

Haynes is doing what needs to be done; there’s no introspection or review or revisiting necessary as far as Rummy is concerned, since [imperial] orders were given under at least (2) National Security Directives to “git ‘er done” with regard to terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.

In which case, Haynes is a doormat on which Rummy wipes his feet without a second thought rather than the bump under the tires of the bus. It all happened so fast because power rarely looks down at the doormat.