Et Tu, Cheney?

[marmar]

from Truthdig:


Et Tu, Cheney?

Posted on Mar 9, 2007
By E.J. Dionne

WASHINGTON—Hand-wringing over extreme partisanship has become a popular cause among learned analysts. They operate from Olympian heights and strain for evenhandedness by issuing tut-tuts to all sides, Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives.

But the evidence of recent days should settle the case: This administration has operated on the basis of a hyperpartisanship not seen in decades. Worse, the destroy-the-opposition, our-team-versus-their-team approach has infected large parts of the conservative movement and the Republican Party. That’s a shame since there are plenty of good people in both. Still, the tendency to subordinate principles to win short-term victories and cover up for the administration is, alas, rampant on the right.

Take the rush of conservative organs demanding an immediate pardon of Scooter Libby after his conviction on four counts related to lying and obstruction of justice. Last I checked, conservatives were deeply committed to the rule of law. They said so frequently during the Clinton impeachment saga.

But the conscientious Libby jury had barely announced its conclusions when The Wall Street Journal editorial page and the National Review, among others, called for a pardon because the case, as the Journal editorial put it, involved ``a travesty of justice.’’

In other words, when an impartial judicial system does something that conservatives don’t like, the will of conservatives, not the rule of law, should triumph. Is there any doubt that a Democrat who used executive power to protect a convicted political ally from the consequences of the legal process would be savaged for abusing his authority? (Since you might ask, I pilloried Bill Clinton for the Marc Rich pardon.) ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070309_et_tu_cheney/

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. EJ is enjoyable often, but this time he really hits the nail on the head.

thanks for posting this.

[texpatriot2004]

2. K & R nm

[marmar]

3. Happy hour kick!

:kick: