All the Presidents' Stonewallers

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/6365

All the Presidents' Stonewallers
by P.M. Carpenter | Mar 27 2007

"Attorney-gate" doesn't quite capture the historical tediousness of the current White House-Justice Department scandal.

Sure, it has the ubiquitous "-gate" suffix. But other than that, there's nothing to indicate that we're watching a familiar replay of Richard Nixon's ineluctable comeuppance, complete with a justice-obstructing White House; a comically inept attorney general more presidential friend than top cop; the drip, drip, drip of "Oh, did we forget to mention that?"; an increasingly angry and aggressive Democratic Congress; and a withering of Republican Congressional support.

Every morning I expect to read that some White House flunky named Alex has George W. on tape saying "Stonewall 'em" and offering Kyle Sampson a million in hush money.

snip//

But, true to form, George Walker Bush can't even get presidential crime right. No, George had to go and get himself into an obstruction of justice mess of technically legal origins. He managed to take the contemplation of a routine act -- the replacement of political appointees -- and turn it, step by agonizing step, into a mound of felonious curiosities.

The man is an insult to quality gangsterism.

Not to minimize the scandal's disturbingly dark intent, but if Congress winds up nailing Bush Inc. on what began as a lawful shenanigan, rather than the White House's long history of nothing less than war crimes, it would also be an insult to legislative oversight, akin to the feds nailing the murderously extorting Al Capone on ... plink ... tax evasion.

K&R