Déjà Vu

MANIFESTO

The so-called document dump related to the US Attorney episode has occurred with the assurance from a Department of Justice spokewoman that the filing will show that "the department did not remove the U.S. attorneys for improper reasons, such as to prevent or retaliate for a particular prosecution in a public corruption matter."

As it turns out, the collection is not complete since—surprise—it includes no communications between the DoJ and the White House. After wondering whether the Bushies would invoke the Star Chamber-like notion of "executive privilege," Americans have rediscovered the secretive nature of the White House. Cripes, it's not as if we haven't been blocked from knowing who served on the infamous Energy Task Force of 2001 or who, exactly, works for Deadeye Dick.

Anyway, by using the tired (and tyrannical) notion of "executive privilege," the Bushies have pretty much brought us right back to the early 1970s. I, for one, am not real glad to be seeing this type of ploy used again.