December 14, 2007, Obstruction Department of Justice
In a move that should surprise exactly no one (coming with the ink barely dry on White House instructions not to cooperate in contempt of Congress proceedings against former White House officials), we now get news that our spanking (funny that) new Attorney General Michael Mukasey has, in one of his first official acts, directed the CIA not to cooperate with a House Committee's probe of the recently disclosed destruction of tapes of the systematic torture of two "high value" detainees. (H/T to Bruce the Veep for both items; Bruce himself offers the old quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes to the effect that, in the end, "the law" is what they let you get away with).
There are a seemingly infinite number of ways that the Bush Administration, with the full cooperation and connivance of gutless (and worthless) "opposition leaders" can do to undermine our Constitution and our Republic (or what's left of them) in the next 403 days, while most of us will be engaged in the fool's errand of watching the beauty contest to determine the individual ego that will get to abuse the executive powers that this Administration has so kindly built up for it. (BTW, you will see an incredibly reinvigorated press corps come to protest the suddenly abusive and overbearing executive, should the bearer of such powers be a Democrat, let alone Hillary; but I digress.)
As his popularity continues in the below 40% range (the percentage of Americans who would support this or any other Republican President even if said person knife-raped a nun on live television), the President continues to get what he wants, by a Democratic opposition with no desire to expend energy on... well, anything, really. At this point, I have to ask: after seven years of this s***, essentially governing as if he had that vast mandate he always pretended he did because a complicit press corps, "opposition" and ultimately, electorate let him... why the hell should the President do anything differently at this late stage of the game?
[The President said it himself: he cares not how "history" will judge him, as "we'll all be dead" by then. And like everything else that this man ever touched, the mess he created will still be around for others to pick up. But then, if the rest of us don't care enough to step up and make him clean up his own mess... why should he?]