Here’s how it went with the Republicans when Clinton was in office: at the merest suggestion that there might have been a transgression of a Clinton White House official, a special prosecutor was assigned by Congress, with Democrats agreeing on the basis of avoiding a conflict of interest, and the White House cooperating (though the degree of compliance is debatable, at least they made a show of upholding the law).

Here’s how it is now with the Democrats, with Bush in office: only when it has been positively proven beyond any doubt whatsoever that the Attorney General himself lied under oath and is guilty of overseeing massive corruption, a special prosecutor is now called for, but is opposed by Republicans despite conflicts of interest, and is fought tooth and nail by the White House to the extent of being further guilty of contempt of Congress, and further violating the law by having the aforementioned Attorney General, despite absolute conflict of interest, simply ignore the charges instead of (correctly and legally) recusing himself and having a subordinate take on the task.

Let me ask this: to the extent that the Republicans in office today have become, not just partisan, but so blatantly illegal in their actions, how can you be a Republican and not be totally ashamed of how your party is acting? I mean, Democrats are ashamed of their party for just not doing enough to call Republicans on it; and yet, Republicans seem adamantly stubborn in defending brazen violations of the law and flagrant disassembling of the Constitution of the United States of America.

This has gone beyond partisan politics. This has gone beyond the extent of “my party, right or wrong.” We are now in the territory of, “my party, no matter how corrupt, destructive, or defiantly criminal they have become.” Even the Republicans who try to make election-year hay out of “opposing” the president still can’t go beyond mild criticism, usually consisting of stating the bloody obvious (e.g., “mistakes were made in Iraq”). So, what’s the explanation? Loyalty until death? Hypnotism? Mass hysteria? Embarrassment? Or just plain approval of the corruption and lawbreaking?