Oversight

Today's subpoena of Condi Rice, the continuing Gonzales saga, and the sad spectacle of the Tillman and Lynch testimony yesterday will lead to the inevitable caterwauling by the right that the Dems are out of control as they use their elective congressional majorities to investigate the last six years of the Bush era. Keep in mind, as their complaints about Democratic oversight grow to a roar, how we got into this place:

What these episodes actually do is illustrate how virtually every rotted and broken branch of our political and media culture operate:

First, it has been well-known for several years that the U.S. military outright invented lies regarding literally every aspect of the Jessica Lynch story. And the Tillman family for years has been vocally complaining about the lies they were told by the Pentagon regarding the circumstances surrounding Pat Tillman's death, the pressure on other soldiers to conceal the truth, and the crass and disgusting exploitation of those lies to serve the administration's political interests. None of this is new. So why is Congress holding hearings to investigate these matters only now?

The answer, of course, is because the Republicans who controlled Congress for the last four years absolutely suppressed any attempt whatsoever to exert oversight on the administration. They not only investigated nothing, they aggressively blocked every real investigation into allegations of wrongdoing and corruption on the part of the administration. Our government literally ceased to function the way it is designed to, because Congressional Republicans deliberately abdicated their duty of checks on the executive and actively helped to conceal every improper and deceitful act.

The only reason any of this is being aired now is because the American people removed the President's party from control of Congress and they are no longer able to keep concealed the Bush administration's misconduct.

For the whole depressing wrap-up, read Glenn Greenwald today.