A sigh of relief

Thanks goodness control of Congress has changed hands -- happily, both houses.

This change will start a row of dominos falling, for the better, although there will be enormous whining from the administration and its sycophants.

One example: Vice President Cheney has an inappropriate and extra-constitutional office space in the House of Representatives (according to recent book Vice, another of those damning recent volumes exposing the administration). From that space, Cheney could and did exercise control over the Republican agenda, and hence over the congressional agenda, according to the authors of Vice, whose case seems well made. The congressional Republicans sold their souls -- assuming they even have souls -- as they rolled over for the administration's trashing of the Constitution, flagrant corruption, including the obscene no-bid contracts for work in Iraq, most egregiously to Cheney's Halliburton. When Senator Patrick Leahy (Democrat) asked Cheney for an explanation of the no-bid Halliburton contract, Cheney's response to Senator Leahy was, "Go f--- yourself." Nice, Vice, real nice. Well, the chickens are going to come home to roost now. The Republicans let it all slide, apparently indifferent to the raqing multi-level corruption.

Cheney will be deposed in upcoming trial of Scooter Libby for outing Valerie Plame (Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife, a former CIA undercover operative, now the best known such in the land). Then he will be a target (one of several) in a civil suit filed by Joe and Valerie Wilson. He cannot escape exposure and a beholden Congress cannot save him now that control has changed hands. Even a Bush pardon (expect that for Libby, by the way) cannot save that crowd from civil liability.

It is clear from published reports -- books such as the recent Hubris -- that Cheney and the rest engaged in deliberate felonious and subversive behavior in order to destroy their perceived enemies. In particular, they committed felonies in their attempt to destroy Joe Wilson, whose only sin was TO TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ADMINISTRATION'S LIES THAT GOT US INTO THIS WAR-FOR-OIL AND WAR-FOR-HALLIBURTON. By the way ... in 1992, Cheney argued AGAINST an attempt to oust Saddam. His arguments mirrored the disaster that has now ensued from his reversal under Bush Jr. What intervened? Heart attacks, for one thing. And an extremely lucrative stint as CEO of Halliburton, from which he is still reaping profits.

Yikes. And I am a Republican. No wonder the Dems took Congress.

So far, Nancy Pelosi (the notorious "San Francisco liberal") appears to be pitch-perfect in her performance as Speaker-in-waiting. Dignified, clear, focused -- once out of campaign mode and into governing mode. Good for her. She has to be an improvement over Dennis Hastert. The Republicans brought this loss upon themselves. If the Democrats live up to their responsibilities (by no means a sure thing), the congressional Republicans may be out in the cold for a long time. We shall see. Meanwhile, I await the indictment of John Doolittle for his various corruptions.