Until January 20, 2009. It is not going to be a campaign issue because McCain says all the right things and the press only cares about what he says, not what he does.

No, unless a Democrat is elected president, there will be nothing done on torture. Even then, I'm not expecting any prosecutions or anything. The most I expect will happen is that we will learn more about what's been done and the torture itself will stop (and in the middle of the night, I worry about the latter even happening).

--even if we're in the WH.

There was a reason Gonzales was made AG and that was, simply, to try to ensure that no one in the Bush Administration ever faced criminal prosecution. How do you do that? You push out career people and hire political hacks in their place. Same thing with U.S. Attorney's Offices, many of which were allowed to decline massively in staffing and then once the old USAO was pushed out, the new hacktacular USAO would do the hiring.

This is the reason, btw, that I supported Clinton even when Edwards was in the race. I liked many of Edwards' positions and preferred his policies on many issues. However, the government is broken. It's that simple. The career staff has been degraded and compromised. And a hostile career staff can make an incoming president's life hell, especially if he doesn't know how the government works.

It doesn't matter what you want to do if you can't do it because you're being knee-capped by Monica Goodling-approved hires at every department and agency. You have to know how it's supposed to work so you can call bullshit when it doesn't work. Clinton has always seemed to me the only one who would know when to call bullshit going in.

On torture and all of the other pressing issues, half the battle is going to be figuring out who can be trusted. I love government service and many of the smartest people I've ever worked with have been government employees. Most of whom take pride in their ability to work for any Administration, no matter their personal poltics. But the civil service has been compromised like never before. However big a mess you think it is, it's worse.

I'm sure you can do that without compromise...

That would be really original, insightful stuff. We can all rail on Obama -- that's like clubbing a baby seal now, it's so easy. Much as I appreciate your fine work in that regard....

[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

I've been thinking about putting something together. There are a lot of source materials out there on the various departments and agencies with information on the damage done. I'm sort of out of the inner circle now, but I still have a lot of contacts at various departments and I spent a number of years workiing directly for political appointees so I think I have a feel for how it's supposed to work and what has happened to it. I read almost everything I can, but now it's a matter of going back and finding it. And that's a matter of having the time (whereas beating up on Obama is something I can do quickly and easily, heh).

How the government actually works is something I've found to be little understood by most people. I remember when I joined I was amazed at the inter- and intra-agency conflict (I learned the joke every federal employee knows, "I bet you thought there was only one United States government, right?"). So if I can find the time I'll put together some posts on how the government actually works or is suppsed to work (hint - imperfectly and inefficiently) and how it's been damaged.

It is something I feel strongly about. The Republicans have worked since at least Reagan to undermine the image of federal workers. There's a direct line, IMO, between that effort and the current clusterfuck. Speaking for myself, I don't work in the government because I can't work some place else, I had a very lucrative job at a big city law firm, thank you very much. I work in the government because I feel like my work is worth something, that it's worthwhile to try to make the country a little better, even if it's just my little corner of it. It's not more lucrative than private practice, but it is more satisfying. As uncynical as it sounds. Heavens, maybe I'm an Obama supporter afterall!

... and we can do the riffing. Only you can write what you described. So do what only you can do!

[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

"The Republicans have worked since at least Reagan to undermine the image of federal workers. There’s a direct line, IMO, between that effort and the current clusterfuck."

Government that works is bad for Republicans. They would have nothing to run on. (That is what American governance is all about really. One party saying government is broken, and the other saying agreeing, but ignore the fact the we broke it. In this incarnation of America's history, it is Republicans being the breaker.)

Bill Clinton for First Dude!!!

was the author of most of them--do a search--on DOJ, Civil Rights Division, Rove using Fed agencies for election help, and more...