Politicians, legal experts and progressive activists grappled with Republican abuses of power at the third annual netroots convention on Friday, debating how an Obama administration might restore the rule of law. Cass Sunstein, an adviser to Barack Obama from the University of Chicago Law School, cautioned against prosecuting criminal conduct from the current administration. Prosecuting government officials risks a "cycle" of criminalizing public service, he argued, and Democrats should avoid replicating retributive efforts like the impeachment of President Clinton -- or even the "slight appearance" of it.
"Give me a break," responded former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, when told about Sunstein's advice during an interview with The Nation. Siegelman took a court-sanctioned trip to tell attendees about his conviction for corruption, currently on appeal, which he says was motivated by a malicious Republican effort to destroy his career. Discussing alleged White House abuse of the Justice Department, which led to Alberto Gonzales' resignation, Siegelman said "what Karl Rove has been accused of doing would make Watergate look like child's play." The former governor also urged activists to press Congress to hold Rove in contempt for defying a House subpoena in a related investigation. His supporters have launched an Internet campaign, ContemptforRove.org, to advance the cause. Noting that Rove's potential testimony "could not impact" his appeal, Siegelman said he was still pressing the issue because it was fundamental to "restoring justice and preserving our democracy." He learned how blogs were scrutinizing the Republican corruption at the Justice Department when supporters sent him print-outs from TalkingPointsMemo while he was serving the first 9 months of his prison sentence.
Attendees and bloggers are disappointed with the emerging, bipartisan consensus in Washington that the lawlessness of the Bush era can largely go unpunished. 
After emphasizing more investigations over actual accountability, Sunstein and John Dean faced pointed questioning at a packed panel on "The Next President and the Law." Mike Stark, a blogger who helped organize the spying protests within Obama's social network, asked why politicians should ever be above the law. And Hunter, a popular "front-page poster" on DailyKos, captured the mood in a long post kicking off the conference:
It seems evident, at this point, that there will be no comeuppance as a result of the excesses of the Bush administration. There will be investigations; they will investigate. There will be subpoenas; they will simply be refused...We know misrepresentations were made that led us, apparently inexorably, into war. In the end, we are as a nation (public, press, and government) not particularly interested in hearing the particulars of how or why; the truth is that we were aching for a good war, and the rationale was an afterthought not just for the Bush administration, but for most of their audience.
We know the rule of law itself was politicized, made into an apparatus of partisan advantage, a weapon for the ruling party to use against opponents. We know who did it, and we know it was not just unethical, but illegal. But to push it farther than that would require taking the last step -- from investigation, to prosecution -- and that step seems illusory, at best.... There will be reconciliation, and reconciliation will be defined by the conservative punditry as letting bygones be bygones -- anything but that will be unacceptable and partisan, in itself.
The conference continues through Sunday, with addresses by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, netroots favorite Donna Edwards, columnist Paul Krugman, DLC head Harold Ford, blogger Markos Moulitsas and a host of writers and policy wonks. (I'm moderating a panel on "War Pundits.") Barack Obama, who attended last year's conference, sent several aides in his place this time. Campaign spokesperson Hari Sevugan told The Nation that the "netroots community is an important voice in our public discourse" that can impact policy and "help keep people involved after the election."
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You are exactly right.
"Hunter' is quoted as saying "...the truth is that we were aching for a good war..."
Excuse me?? The February before the war began there were simultaneous protests in numerous countries the world over. (The pictures are still there, Hunter, in case you missed them)
I don't know for whom Hunter pretends to speak. Certainly not for me, and certainly not for the MILLIONS who protested and tried to stop this illegal, obscene war from happening.
Once the list is public, and it will be, both parties will be rushing to claim that they took charge and were prosecuting, defending Americans burned. Dems and Repubs both know. Who's going to grab the fire hose first?
It's all so disheartening. But, the roof is on fire, so Dems better start prosecuting or prepare for arson charges.
We know that somewhere, a Republican Congressman is drafting Articles, just in case...
It is an act of cowardice unprecedented in our nation's history.
It is immoral.
It is unwise.
And, ironically, it is politically stupid. Incredibly, the Democrats -- by putting Party over principle -- have played right into the Republican meme of Democrats as unprincipled and too weak to trust with national security.
People understand, at some nascent level, that if you won't confront your rival party, you may be too weak to confront real aggression.
The really sad part is, we've run this experiment over and over again for nearly 30 years now, and it keeps coming out the same. We attempt to appease and coopt the middle by trying to be all things to all people, and end up being nothing to no one.
Only the obvious incompetence and criminality of the Bush administration secured Democrats a victory in 2006, and by refusing to confront that illegal legacy, we give voters a choice between wimps afraid to stand on principle, and blowhards who stand upon the wrong principles in 2008.
As a result, the outcome -- which should be a forgone conclusion -- is in doubt.
So how many times does the Shrumm/penn/ morriss strategy have to deliver us into defeat before we have the
Sadly, so long as you folks are milquetoast, we are sunk, drowning in a murk we can neither see through nor survive.
http://rawstory.com//news/2008/Cybersecurity_expert_raises_allegations_of_2004_0717.html
The game's been afoot al along it would seem...
Leland R. Erickson
Citizen
That is certainly one of the most absurd and most ridiculous statements I've ever read.
Here's what that sentence REALLY means:
"Letting government officials act without regard to law, risks a government where corruption and abuse of power is rampant."
Look around the world (and, of course, right here in Washington, with the most corrupt administration in our history).
Power NEEDS to be inhibited by laws. It's a founding principle of this country--and a great one.
Just look at what happens anywhere when this idea ISN'T followed.
If a President commits murder, he can not be tried for it until he is out of office. The only action that can be taken while the Presidet is in office is political. Once no longer in office he is just another citizen and can be criminally prosecuted.
The greatest danger to Democracy is not abuse of power, it is the reliquishing of power by the appathy of the people. Apathy and ignorance are the forces that allowed Bush to get by with the abuses of Power.
We can never forget that we the people are the source of all governmental authority. We must endevor to educate ourselves and those around us, for the only free people are an educated people.
An acceptance by the leaders of this country, both Democrat and Republican, that corruption in the White House and Congress must be protected, FOR THEIR OWN SELF INTEREST, not the interest of the country, is most revealing. Sunsteins's comments do nothing but give this corruption the cloak of legitimacy.
BTW, Mike Stark is more important than Markos Moulitsas by a long shot. You'll be hearing more from Mike Stark. He doesn't suck up to politicians.
I say PROSECUTE CRIMES of the Bushians, and let the political chips fall where they may. This country is in the toilet if we don't uphold the rule of law as applying to everyone, especially those entrusted with power.
If at the same time you can prosecute the Bush Administration without creating a Republican backlash, go for it. You just have to set priorities. When you are debating in a vacuum it is easy to postulate great principles. When you actually have to do something you have to deal with the real world and a divergence of opinion from yours.
The rule of law was destroyed with the assistance of the two-party system whose senior members are more beholden to the internationalists than the population of this country as a whole.
We are now simply seeing the results of it more clearly.
Those who have financially supported the senior members of the two-party system, with their control over financial operations in this country and elsewhere, have have done us in.
It is an unalterable fact that all people get the government they allow.