When you close a wound before cleaning it out, you invite infection.

As Lambert notices, some people seem to have forgotten that.

Atrios points to the fact that premature closure- the pardon of Dick Nixon- set the stage for both the Reagan/Bush I and the Bush II assaults on the Constitution.

Poppy Bush in fact did quite well during the Nixon/ Ford era: United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in the People's Republic of China (back when China was part of the Evil Empire, of course, and had no Embassy), and Director of Central Intelligence.

In fact, after the Democrats won again, Poppy Bush was part a pre-PNAC pre-AEI unofficial but utilized "alternative" to the CIA, the pretentious Committee on the Present Danger. These primordial NeoCons were about as right about the world as the contemporary ones were about Iraq. They just didn't have a dupe like Dear Leader to game.

So let's not glorify a man whose rush to closure settled nothing.

Ford covered the tracks of a very bad man. As a result, many other bad men had theirs covered as well. Let's try to remember that in the New Year to come, because when it comes to ending the Rethuglican assault on the Constitution, it's not over until they're actually doing time.