droit du seigneur

Senate Republicans are now privately threatening to derail the confirmation of key Obama administration nominees for top legal positions by linking the votes to suppressing critical torture memos from the Bush era. A reliable Justice Department source advises me that Senate Republicans are planning to “go nuclear” over the nominations of Dawn Johnsen as chief of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice and Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh as State Department legal counsel if the torture documents are made public. The source says these threats are the principal reason for the Obama administration’s abrupt pullback last week from a commitment to release some of the documents. A Republican Senate source confirms the strategy. It now appears that Republicans are seeking an Obama commitment to safeguard the Bush administration’s darkest secrets in exchange for letting these nominations go forward.

You know, the people that maybe I ought to furious at are the Republicans, but I find that I am more angry at Democrats for letting themselves be blackmailed by this kind of shit.
Why?
Because while I expect this kind of fucktardary from the Republican party, I hold out hope that their opposition, the Democratic Party, would be more law-abiding. If they they are not, then we might as well declare the Great Experiment over, and concede victory to the forces of tyranny. When those whose job it is to enforce the law, in a nation supposedly ruled by law, are not held accountable for their actions, even after they have lost their hold on power, then that nation is no longer a Nation Of Laws, but merely a plaything for the rich and powerful, which means that you and I are playthings of the rich and powerful.
To not pursue justice is to enable lawlessness, and the result is that the American People are reduced to the status of serfs, subject to the whim of our oligarchic masters, with no recourse save rebellion or exodus. Rebellion, dangerous and unpredictable, is not an attractive option. Europe is looking better all the time.
Democrats were elected in order to end the blatant disregard for the law that Republicans have shown during the eight years of the Bush Administration, but the margin of that victory wasnt all that wide. If they wish to remain in power, they're going to have to show that they can use that power both wisely and legitimately, or else their support will melt away and the civic ignoramuses who kept Bush in power for eight long, brutal years will regain the bully pulpit. Should that happen, I suspect that we'll find ourselves nostalgic for the Bush years.

props to Kel