americanflagdetail.jpgGlenn Greenwald has a superb essay today on the Beltway punditocracy and political classes, like Joe Klein and his smarmy defense of multiple-felony convicted Scooter Libby, who have enabled the Bush Administration to utterly disregard the rule of law for the last six plus years. From Glenn:

The reason Bush officials have believed they can simply break the law with complete impunity is because the Beltway culture in which they operate believes that. Most importantly, our media stars absolutely believe that, that lawbreaking by the most powerful political officials who rule their world is not real lawbreaking, even when they are convicted in a court of law — after ample due process and with the best legal defense team which Marty Peretz and Fred Thompson could help pay for — of committing multiple felonies.There are many reasons why the political press fails to investigate and uncover real wrongdoing on the part of the government, but a leading reason is that they do not see lawbreaking as genuinely wrong or the lawbreakers as corrupt. These are their friends and colleagues — their socioeconomic peers and, with increasing and disturbing frequency, their spouses and family memebers — and while Important Bush Officials might be “guilty” of engaging in harmless and perfectly accepted political “hardball,” they are never genuinely bad people engaged in genuinely bad acts. And they certainly do not belong in criminal courtrooms or prison.

It is so painfully revealing, though equally unsurprising, to read one of our most prestigious pundits, the Leading Liberal in Time Magazine, argue that Paris Hilton should be imprisoned as an example of the stern rule of law that prevails in our country but convicted felon Lewis Libby — who deliberately lied under oath to the Grand Jury and as part of an FBI investigation — should be set free. Or that George Bush’s spying on Americans in violation of the criminal law is a matter of mere political controversy which Democrats ought steadfastly to avoid. There is no class of people more defensive of the prerogatives of political power than our “journalist” class, even though, in a healthy and functioning democracy, the exact opposite would be true.

Good on Glenn. Nowhere has this “the rules oughtn’t apply to our kind” mentality been more stunningly displayed than the WaPo editorial pages, wherein David Broder held forth yesterday with an op-ed so devoid of factual understanding of the underlying issues in the case, I’m not even going to bother to quote from it. That it appeared in the same section with Carol Leonnig’s piece speaks volumes about the disconnect between the punditocracy and their lack of commitment to the rule of law — versus the Rule of Bush. Perhaps The Dean ought to talk with reporters who actually spent time at the courthouse covering the trial in meticulous detail…but then, that would require an open mind and not one that was already made up for him, now wouldn’t it?

We have a chance today to help draw a stark contrast between those folks who take their oath to uphold the Constitution seriously — and those who want to uphold their tenuous grasp on the power wheel through an ever-fading commitment to the rule of Bush. Please take some time today and call you Senators and tell them to vote for the resolution of no confidence in Alberto Gonzales.

Emptywheel sent me the following list of GOP Senators whose support has been very, very soft for Gonzales or who have called outright for him to resign:

  • Coleman (has called for AGAG’s resignation)
  • Hagel
  • McCain
  • Roberts (ha! though he has called for AGAG’s resignation)
  • Sununu
  • Smith
  • Sessions
  • Graham
  • Specter (ha! will probably be voting “Scottish Haggis” again)
  • Bond
  • Grassley
  • Snowe
  • Collins
  • Ensign

You can phone, toll free through the Capitol switchboard, at the following numbers. Let’s make all of our Senators go on the record: do you support the Constitution and the rule of law? Or do you stand only for the Rule of Bush?

1 (800) 828 – 0498
1 (800) 459 – 1887
1 (800) 614 – 2803
1 (866) 340 – 9281
1 (866) 338 – 1015
1 (877) 851 – 6437

(H/T to reader katymine for compiling these.) RawStory has more on the expectations at the moment — let’s see if we can move the numbers a bit.

(Gorgeous American flag shot via Thomas Hawk.)