Here is what I don't get

[npk]

An attempted cover up of the break in to the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel resulted in a lengthy investigation by the Senate an the eventual impeachment of Richard Nixon. In the end Nixon was forced to resign from office and several of his administrations top officials were subsequently indicted.

Allegations of a sexual affair and allegations of perjury led the House of Representatives to impeach president Bill Clinton. He was subsequently found not guilty in the Senate.

President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney launch a war against Iraq under fabricated evidence and lies, engage in point blank illegal torture against not just "enemy combatants" but citizens of the United States, outwardly and blatantly defy not once, not twice, but three times an order from the United States Supreme Court and...................Nothing. Not one independent investigation. No Kenn Starr. Nothing, zero, nada.

So let me get this straight, Nixon impeached, forced to resign. Saved from criminal prosecution by President Gerald Ford's gutless pardon. President Bill Clinton impeached for allegedly lying before Congress. But President Bush and Vice President Cheney are allowed to walk. Cheney is free to walk the streets and attack a current president from the safety of a podium. What the fuck is wrong with this picture.

I've heard that the wheels of justice turn slowly, but I didn't know that they stopped turning when the century turned.

So my question is why. WHY?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. It's an excellent question, and I have no idea why.

It is also frustrating beyond belief...

[Mithreal]

2. Saving the country from embarrassment and unraveling?

I don't buy those either.

The only answer that makes sense to me is that backroom deals were cut and forever after a number of people are going to have it held over their head, used to manipulate them.

[pansypoo53219]

3. NINE/ELEVEN CHANGED EVERYTHING

AND THE FUCKING RIGHT WING TEEVEE GNEWS ARE FASCISTS.

[dkf]

4. Because Obama is protecting them

[OHdem10]

5. The same as Iran-Contra and Reagan.

[JoePhilly]

15. See post #14 ... I take your line, but back to Nixon ... where Cheney gets's his start ..

[Fire1]

16. +10

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. What was a two-party system has become a one-party system.

>>>>>President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney launch a war against Iraq under fabricated evidence and lies, engage in point blank illegal torture against not just "enemy combatants" but citizens of the United States, outwardly and blatantly defy not once, not twice, but three times an order from the United States Supreme Court and...................Nothing. Not one independent investigation. No Kenn Starr. Nothing, zero, nada.>>>>>>

Many DEMS were complicit in Iraq. Plus the myth of bipartisanship ( translation: end of majority rules) is in ascendancy. God forbid we should do something so "divisive" as investigate malfeasance at the top levels of gov't.

The would create, ahem , "gridlock".... another corporate media construct.

Media consolidation seems to have played a huge role in the change of political culture that you identify. The corporations control the actual *dialogue*. Which means they also control how and WHAT people think. This wasn't AS true in the Watergate era.

Except for the internet, American media is essentially a monolith.

[Lurks Often]

21. Posts 6 and 18 got it right

Senior members of Congress, of both parties, were complicit in the decision to go to war in Iraq. Any attempt at trying Bush, Cheney or anybody else that was part of the executive branch, will lead to discovery during the trial, of how the Congressional leadership was complicit.

The Legislative branch controls the funding, they could have stopped the war by simply not voting to fund it, but they choose not to.

I have two questions for everybody:
1. If the Democrats in Congress were so against the war under Bush, why did they continue to vote to fund it?

2. How many Democratic Senators and Representatives are you willing to lose when it comes to light that they were FULLY aware of what was going on regarding the lead up to the Iraq war and the subsequent handling of the Iraq war under Bush?

[win_in_06]

7. To his credit, Obama perhaps has ended the cycle

of two-term presidents facing undue scrutiny from the party formerly out of power. One could argue that that process does not reflect well on the US democratic process in the eyes of the international community.

Also, frankly, Obama has accepted/adopted many of the policies of Bush/Cheney. He kept Secretary Gates at the Pentagon. Guantanamo Bay is still alive and kicking. Patriot Act lives on. Iraq war is still on the timetable established by the Bush administration. The Generals and Ambassadors running things in Afghanistan cut their teeth and rose in the ranks during Bush's wars.

It almost seems that once Obama became a part of the inner-circle of high-level National Security he had a change of perspective vs his outlook as a Presidential Candidate or idealistic young Senator.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

8. Accountability is now exacted only when the powerful elite want it for their own ends.

Period.

[snot]

9. Because in the interim, the oligarchs have consolidated their ownership of the media and Congress.

Dems' failure to reverse the consolidation of media ownership or to meaningfully protect what remains of the public commons on the internet tends to substantiate the suspicion that Dems don't care cuz they're owned by the same bosses.

[yurbud]

10. I did an animation on this very question a few years back:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMUvM_Dby7I

[denimgirly]

11. #1 Understand why we are called Peasents

Bush and Cheney dont get prosecuted or anything because well lets face it there crimes are against the peasants...be these peasants as "the rest of us" here in the U.S. or anyone who lives outside it...mass killings here and there are just another day at the office because in the end peasants aren't worth anything. From the bigger picture Bush and Cheney made many companys and individuals very wealthy.

Clinton was impeached because he is a Democrat, nuf said. Nixon because it was a time when congress wasn't as corrupt...in todays standards he would probably be able run for a 2nd term with that badge of honor of breaking into the DNC as a proud, patriotic american and the media would praise him for his courage.

[Tesha]

12. The impeachment of Clinton on trumped-up-charges was done *SPECIFICALLY* so that the next...

...President (who, in that age, looked *VERY* likely to be a Republican)
would be completely immune from Impeachment. After the Clinton
experience, our country would be very unlikely to support the impeachment
of another President, in part because we saw how partisan the process
could be and in part because it would appear exactly like Democrats
extracting political revenge for the Republicans having impeached Clinton.

And the strategy worked like a charm; Bush now leads a charmed political
life.

Tesha

[Bettie]

13. DUH! Lying about affairs of state is A-OK if you have two qualifications

1. You are Republican

2. You are an old white guy

Now, lying about sex is only OK if you have an R after your name.

Seriously, this is so disgusting. In today's climate, Nixon would never have even been questioned much less impeached...as a Republican, he'd be untouchable.

It make me sick.

[JoePhilly]

14. I think I can explain why ...

To understand, you have to go back to Nixon, and then look for Cheney.

Cheney was in the Nixon White house. He held a number of relatively minor positions, but he does well enough to become Ford's Chef of staff after Nixon resigns.

During his time in the Nixon white house, Cheney gets to see Watergate up close and from the inside.

And what he learns is critical to the question you ask. "Why?"

Nixon has made the mistake of not surrounding himself with people who were 100% loyal to him personally. There were too many "free thinkers" ... people who would actually take their oaths seriously. And it was those people who TALKED.

Cheney learned that the LAST thing you want to have a round are folks that might turn on you. That's why the Bush white house becomes a hotel for Cheney sycophants. Everyone they put into every single position was a loyalist. So that's key.

Then, Cheney saw that Nixon had used executive privilege poorly. Cheney comes out of this period supporting the "unitary executive" model of Presidential power. This is the line from Nixon .. "well, when the President does it, its not a crime." Cheney enters the Ford white house believing this that statement is TRUE. He even tries to get ford to use the DOJ for political purposes (sound familiar).

And then, Nixon's other mistake, from Cheney's point of view, was that he was not smart enough to PROMISE those around him that no matter what they did, regardless of the crime, they would be protected, and taken care of down the road.

So that's what Cheney learned ...

1) Loyalists only no, talkers
3) Executive privilege is absolute
2) Promise to protect "the crew"

And then, following after Nixon, if you watch, Cheney and Rumsfeld and others have ALWAYS taken care of the loyalists. Think Ollie North, think G. Gorden Liddy. Both GOP felons, both now BELOVED by the right.

And now ... think about Scooter Libby. He's been taken care of. He lied to out Plame, got caught, and then fell on his sword. No jail time, his legal fees all paid by the right wing, and they recently gave him an AWARD!!!

SO ... while we KNOW they Bush and Cheney lied ... lied about many things ... you can't prove it.

Why?
1) Neither of them will ever admit it to anything
2) No one from "the crew" will ever talk, even if charges are brought against them
3) If anyone gets in trouble going forward, their silence will be paid for, probably already has

Why do you think so mane former Bush administration folks are now "Fox News Contributors" ... that's part of the pay-off.

[lunatica]

17. If you watch what politicians do and ignore what they say

You'll have your answer. 99% of politicians are mentally incapable because of the way their brains are wired of doing the right thing when there's an alternative expedient solution. Politicians never make a move without very carefully studying the situation or issue to see what's in it for them. Or how what they do might come back and bite them in the ass at a most inconvenient time.

They've noticed we let them get away with their actions so they feel free to continue the status quo.

[frazzled]

18. Because it's a lot harder to prosecute governmental actions that ...

depend on definitions of national security and were carried out with the explicit or implicit will of Congress and the people than it is to prosecute personal criminal activity or perjury.

Which is not to say that it should not or could not be done, but look how long it took to indict Pinochet. Decades. And in the end he was never convicted (he died before that could happen).

When the state takes actions that it sanctions itself through legal memoranda and Congressional consent (and in the case of torture, sadly, popular support) it's very hard to turn around and legally prosecute it.

Look at the polls taken on the subject today: people still think torture is a good thing. People still think it's right to hold kangaroo courts that deny individual rights than to try terrorists in civilian courts under our own legal system. It's wrong, but until you can change the mentality ... or get some of these guys on sheer technicalities like perjury ... it's going to be next to impossible to prosecute. I think this administration's take on it is that the time is best spent creating new, more moral and just and effective, strategies and selling the public on them, than it is to pursue lengthy and probably futile legal proceedings about the past.

[Kablooie]

19. Republicans today admire criminal Republicans and Democrats are incompetent, cowards.

Simple to comprehend.

[Festivito]

20. It's that Left-wing media. /sarcasm /eom

[depakid]

22. Clinton was disbarred over an irrelevant lie about sex- Yoo and Bybee get no accountability at all

What's wrong with that picture?