Not Ready To Make Nice

[unapatriciated]

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/krugman-not-ready-make-nice

Krugman: Not Ready to Make Nice...
Last Sunday President-elect Barack Obama was asked whether he would seek an investigation of possible crimes by the Bush administration. “I don’t believe that anybody is above the law,” he responded, but “we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.”

I’m sorry, but if we don’t have an inquest into what happened during the Bush years — and nearly everyone has taken Mr. Obama’s remarks to mean that we won’t — this means that those who hold power are indeed above the law because they don’t face any consequences if they abuse their power.

Let’s be clear what we’re talking about here. It’s not just torture and illegal wiretapping, whose perpetrators claim, however implausibly, that they were patriots acting to defend the nation’s security. The fact is that the Bush administration’s abuses extended from environmental policy to voting rights. And most of the abuses involved using the power of government to reward political friends and punish political enemies.......

Alternatively, we’re told that we don’t have to dwell on past abuses, because we won’t repeat them. But no important figure in the Bush administration, or among that administration’s political allies, has expressed remorse for breaking the law. What makes anyone think that they or their political heirs won’t do it all over again, given the chance?

In fact, we’ve already seen this movie. During the Reagan years, the Iran-contra conspirators violated the Constitution in the name of national security. But the first President Bush pardoned the major malefactors, and when the White House finally changed hands the political and media establishment gave Bill Clinton the same advice it’s giving Mr. Obama: let sleeping scandals lie. Sure enough, the second Bush administration picked up right where the Iran-contra conspirators left off — which isn’t too surprising when you bear in mind that Mr. Bush actually hired some of those conspirators.



If we do not acknowledge our past and right the wrongs, than I fear we will be doomed to repeating them over and over again until we finally learn our history lesson.

[lostnotforgotten]

1. Dixie Chicks - Not Ready To Make Nice Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHH8bfPhusM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwc5YSAc-7g

[mmonk]

2. Those that do not look back do not know the destination they will end up.

[unapatriciated]

4. and end up going in circles.

[mmonk]

5. Yep, no straightening out the wheel of the ship of state.

[KansDem]

3. Obama's sounding a little like Lee Hamilton did in the wake of Iran/Contra.

Cheney to the Rescue

One of the key congressional Republicans fighting this rear-guard action was Rep. Dick Cheney of Wyoming, who became the ranking House Republican on the Iran-contra investigation. Cheney already enjoyed a favorable reputation in Washington as a steady conservative hand.

Cheney smartly exploited his relationship with Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., who was chairman of the Iran-contra panel. Hamilton cared deeply about his reputation for bipartisanship and the Republicans quickly exploited this fact.

A senior committee source said one of Cheney’s top priorities was to block Democrats from deposing Vice President Bush about his Iran-contra knowledge. Cheney “kept trying to intimidate Hamilton,” the source said. “He kept saying if we go down that road, we won’t have bipartisanship.”

So, Hamilton gave Bush a pass. The limited investigation also gave little attention to other sensitive areas, such as contra-drug trafficking and the public diplomacy operation. They were pared down or tossed out altogether.

Despite surrendering to Cheney’s demands time and again, Hamilton failed, in the end, to get a single House Republican to sign the final report.

Only three moderate Republicans on the Senate side – Warren Rudman, William Cohen and Paul Trible – agreed to sign the report, after extracting more concessions. Cheney and the other Republicans submitted a minority report that denied that any significant wrongdoing had occurred.

The watered-down Iran-contra majority report essentially let Vice President Bush off the hook. Bush’s political career was saved.

--more--
Consortium News

Yeah, let them go...and they'll be right back pulling this shit all over again! :grr:

[NewJeffCT]

6. By not looking back, we've been recycling the same criminals since Nixon

Cheney, Rumsfeld and others got their start under Nixon, continued under Reagan and then Bush...

If Jeb Bush or another Republican is elected in 2016, are we just going to see them bringing in Wolfowitz, Feith, Gonzalez, Rice, etc, again?

[unapatriciated]

8. exactly.....

if we don't get it right this time , our children and grandchildren will the pay the price. It gets worse with each repug that picks up the ball and continues a game we should of ended with nixon.

[NewJeffCT]

9. You're right - the change would be prosecuting them

to the fullest extent of the law.

[Windy]

7. Krugman and many others fail to point out that Obama said no one is above the law

and that it would be Eric Holder's job to determine what action needs to be taken.

I thought Holder's testimony was pretty encouraging.

Additionally, I think Krugman has some sour grapes when it comes to Obama. His editorials have been biting lately.

[Phx_Dem]

10. I totally agree. Krugman needs to chill out and see what happens.

He said "nearly everyone" thinks Obama's words mean he won't investigate. That is total bullshit. First of all, "nearly every" means the idiot pundits who usually can't find their ass with both hands. Brilliant Anderson Cooper seems to think Andrew Sullivan is a liberal, so spare me what "nearly everyone" aka MSM thinks.

Secondly, the President doesn't investigate the Justice Department does. There is no way Obama is going to tell Holder to back off. And I agree with you that Holder's testimony was encouraging so we'll see what happens.

Krugman has turned into a whiner before he even knows if there is anything to whine about!