Cheney Rules

The inimitable Charles Pierce, corresponding at Media Matters, reacts the the WaPo's staggering expose of the Cheney presidency. I was struck by John Yoo's apparent backpedal on the entire notion of the unitary executive, and his willingness to blame almost anything he could on David Addington, Cheney's legal eagle. Gonzales comes across as an astounding incompetent, probably not the man that you'd like to see as the highest ranking legal official in the country. But you knew that already, didn't you. And Bush, poor Bush. Every time that you think that he couldn't be portrayed or exposed more embarrassingly, you are surprised once more. Says Pierce:

The public careers of Cheney, Gonzales, David Addington, and anyone else involved in this perversion of democracy must be ended with all the brutality -- and more important, all the finality -- that the rule of law allows. They, and the philosophy they represent, must be crushed, utterly, so that it never rises again. In the future, executives must look at what happened to these people and be afraid of pulling this nonsense again. The WaPo series is a brief for impeachment, as clear a roadmap as we're likely to get, considering everything that must already have gone into the shredder. This is renegade authoritarianism at the very heart of the government and it must be stopped. This is no longer about politics. This is about what kind of country we are. If we allow this kind of unconstitutional brigandry to go on unchecked then we consent by our silence to the end of self-government. Period. If the Congress fails to check it, and if the Judiciary fails to recognize it for what it is, then they have consented to rule by the Executive. Period. Either Dick Cheney goes on trial, or we are found guilty of assisting in the suicide of our country. On this, there is no third way. Not any more.

We'll see.

Atrios thinks that the press ought to hang this story around Bush's neck and taunt him with it. It would be interesting to watch Little Lord Fauntleroy bristle under a constant stream of ridicule for playing second fiddle to Dick. I'd be wary of the unintended consequences, though. He might replace Cheney with someone worse, if that's possible. Maybe Fred Thompson?