Regret

Atrios at Eschaton: "Democrats will regret embracing the expansion of executive power because a President Obama will find his administration undone by an 'abuse of power' scandal. All of those powers which were necessary to prevent the instant destruction of the country will instantly become impeachable offenses. If you can't imagine how such a pivot can take place then you haven't been paying attention."

I echo this comment from the perspicacious Atrios, because I agree with it. And, because I am always amazed at how poorly Democrats play this game.

Republicans knew that they were immunizing Bush, when Ken Starr was abusing the office of Independent Prosecuter to death, and when the House Republicans impeached Clinton, they knew they were taking impeachment off the table.

Republicans have been playing a long game, in terms of building up an authoritarian government, for, literally, decades. The Federalist Society, which, thanks to Bush, now peoples the Federal judiciary with authoritarians, who would not know a genuine principle of law, if it hit them over the head, will do everything to blockade the Democrats.

The Iraq War was played with a brazenness, which often took my breath away. Bald-faced deception in the State of the Union. Lying to the United Nations Security Council. But, the fix was in. The Media Pundits played their assigned parts. (I am so glad Tim Russert is still dead.) And, Democrats like Hillary Clinton could not seem to see their way through the fog. Idiots. And, did the Democrats learn anything; when the Surge came along, it was obvious that they had not learned anything whatsoever.

The thin thread of hope is that Republicans have overplayed their hand a bit, maybe messed up the timing slightly. But, when Democrats play so badly, with so little institutional awareness, it is quite discouraging to watch. And, hard to believe that small slips in timing will make any difference.