The Outlaw Party

Digby at Hullaballo, has a brilliant post up about what the Bushies and the republican party is really up to, and how the NSA spying scandal ties into the whole pernicious mess. Outlaw Party. Read the whole thing.

It has been a while since I have weighed in on the particulars of the illegal NSA spying scandal, mostly because Glenn Greenwald has this story covered so thoroughly and so well (and I'm sure you are all reading him every day.) But today we are reminded just how pernicious this scandal is: the Bush Justice department has asserted their right to ignore any law that congress makes, and which a former president signed, under a theory of executive power so sweeping that it essentially declares that this nation is a constitutional, elected monarchy (the elected part being debatable since the president could theoretically assert his unfettered powers to cancel elections.)

~snip~

...And these are the gravest of circumstances. There is nothing to be gained by Democrats abandoning anything in the name of civility Republicans will simply impeach the next Democratic president for double parking without so much as a second thought if they have the chance. They play the hardest of hardball and they do not see such minor setbacks as losing a few seats as any kind of repudiation. In fact, they see nothing as repudiation, not even Nixon's disgrace. They waited patiently for 30 years for the opportunity to reinstitute the imperial presidency and were operating under it even before 9/11.

The only thing that might make them repudiate Bill Clinton's impeachment would be George W. Bush's impeachment and I doubt that we will see either. But what we should see, and I dearly hope we will see, is a Democratic congress that puts the bright light of investigations on what this administration and its GOP allies have done --- and if we should get a Democratic president in 2008, a justice department that seeks out and punishes those who broke these laws. I don't think we should shut up for one minute about demanding accountability for what these people have done.

Back in 1974, I was in favor of pardoning Richard Nixon. I thought that it was wise to "bind up the country's wounds." I was wrong. The Republicans barely missed a beat and just went right on with the program. Whether George W. Bush can be charged with a crime, I don't know. But I have no doubt that it would be good for the country, not bad, if the Republicans were held to account for their undemocratic actions once and for all. They're impeaching, stealing eleactions and starting unnecessary wars now. What is it going to take before people realize that we are dealing with an outlaw political party?

Bush and Rove have made bullying, intimidation, and lying standard operating procedure. They've ignored the constitution at will, and so far, gotten away with it. Just this week bush penned another "signing statement," this time attached to the re-authorization of the Patriot Act (how I loathe that name), stating that he felt free to ignore the oversight that Congress had established.

We elect a president, not a king. But that's changing. The imperial presidency is on its way to becoming an established institution. Unless we stop them this year, this election cycle... well, we might as well renew our passports and start brushing up on our french.

The game will be over.