This cynic suggests that the GOP passion for an all-powerful president will turn on a dime if the next occupant of the White House is a Democrat

Speaking as I just was about the ungodly messes that Chimpy the Make-Believe President's successor will be left to clean up, I stumbled across a pithy observation on how quickly and dramatically the current GOP fervor for an imperial presidency and a totally subservient Congress can be expected to change in the event that the new "emperor" is a Democrat.

It's a comment appended by a reader to an item in William M. Arkin's washingtonpost.com "Early Warning" blog praising General Hayden's Senate committee testimony for "straightforwardly criticiz[ing] decisions and actions of the Bush administration, even gingerly suggesting a truth that everyone on the planet except for the occupants of the White House already knows: The Iraq war is a disaster and a diversion undermining and not enhancing any potential American action to stem global terrorism." This comment speaks for itself:

Folks, remember what I have told you here. If in January, 2008, a democrat takes over at the Oval Office, just watch how quickly the roles will reverse. Just watch as the heavy breathers on the right who support any action against Iraq or Al Quaeda--irrespective of whether those actions are within the law and the Constitution--completely reverse themsleves and beging to call for a more restricvtive view of the power of the Executive. Just watch--assuming republicans manage to hold on to both Houses--as Congress finds a renewed interest in checking the power of the Executive. Just watch as suddenly this obsequeious, accommodating Congress suddenly devlops a spine and starts up investigations of Executive Branch actions. And just watch as some of the Bush sycophants on this very forum suddenly start wringing their hands and fretting over too much Executive power.

The one thing we do not have a shortage of in Washington is a monumental excess of hypocrisy.

Posted by: Jaxas | May 22, 2006 10:31 AM