Bernstein delivers a professional journalistic take on the situation and shames Woodward's sycophancy. Bernstein has now moved up to where Howard Fineman is. Encouraging, but not yet something to cheer about.
And part of it is that what the Bush administration has done is more pervasive and more damaging than anything that Richard Nixon did--no, take that back, than Richard Nixon ever contemplated doing. There is no other word but "extreme" to describe the Bush administration.
Which means specifically:
1. Any investigations will start out being political because the Republicans in Congress are only political. This means that Democrats will be falsely accused of bringing the "Ken Starr chamber" back to Washington, of pursuing an impeachment purely for political ends.
2. This time around, Congress must impeach from the bottom up. None of the Bush administration trainees must ever be allowed to hold positions of public trust again. If they participated in the deception, the torture, the ideologically driven impractical policies, or the corruption, they must be impeached. And that includes the remaining Bush Supreme Court justices who voted in the Bush v. Gore decision--Kennedy, Thomas, and Scalia.
3. This investigation resembles not so much Watergate as it does the investigation that preceded the Nuremburg trials. "I was just following orders" will not cut it for any political appointee who participated in this traitorous administration. De-Bushification, removing the theocratic and neo-conservative strains of political paranoia from ever being guiding principles of this country is essential.
4. The investigation must be carried out in a way that informs the public about the truth of the actions of this administration but does not undercut the criminal liability of those who committed crimes. We want to avoid any Oliver North defenses in criminal trials. Those who did the crime must serve the time.
5. The key barrier to moving quickly is the Republican's "unity in a time of war" nonsense, which is why as Iraq clearly is seen to be a failure by a majority of the American people and Afghanistan is seen to be backsliding into Talibanism, Republicans are looking to Iran to provide the next war to rally behind.
6. The 2006 election becomes crucial for progressives. First, the Republicans must be removed from control of both Houses of Congress. But, assuming a shift in the control of Congress in November (which will not happen without a lot of work in each of the 435 Congressional Districts), if Democrats become gunshy of an impeachment investigation there should be massive primary challenges in 2008.
7. Even after Bush leaves offices and in spite of the fact that a lot of the Bushies are too old to ever hold office again, they must all face impeachment.
8. This is a principled response to the abuse of power. Never forget. Never again.