Richard Nixon wiretapped illegally and it was impeachable. Therefor, ditto W.

That according to noted Bolshevik and former Nixon White House counselor John Dean, that rara avis in the political arena: a truly honest man, at least the Watergate years.

Well, actually Dean does find a difference.

But not in W's favor, though, poor boy...:

Indeed, here, Bush may have outdone Nixon: Nixon's illegal surveillance was limited; Bush's, it is developing, may be extraordinarily broad in scope. First reports indicated that NSA was only monitoring foreign calls, originating either in the USA or abroad, and that no more than 500 calls were being covered at any given time. But later reports have suggested that NSA is "data mining" literally millions of calls - and has been given access by the telecommunications companies to "switching" stations through which foreign communications traffic flows.

and

Given the national security implications of the story, the Times said they had been sitting on it for a year. And now that it has broken, Bush has ordered a criminal investigation into the source of the leak. He suggests that those who might have felt confidence they would not be spied on, now can have no such confidence, so they may find other methods of communicating. Other than encryption and code, it is difficult to envision how.

Such a criminal investigation is rather ironic - for the leak's effect was to reveal Bush's own offense. Having been ferreted out as a criminal, Bush now will try to ferret out the leakers who revealed him.

And this fabulous news: The inmates take over control of the asylum from the security guards. I feel so much more secure with wingnuts in charge post-disaster than professionals. I mean the @$$#oles are doing such a superlative job with "homeland security" post 9/11 (well, it is better than during the 21 January - 11 September 2001 period, I'll give them that).

Military Service Chiefs Demoted in Line of Pentagon Succession

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: December 30, 2005

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 (AP) - The three military service chiefs have been dropped in the Bush administration's doomsday line of Pentagon succession, pushed beneath three civilian under secretaries in the inner circle of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

A recent executive order from President Bush moved the Pentagon's intelligence chief to the No. 3 spot in the succession hierarchy. Mr. Rumsfeld is No. 1, and the second spot would be the deputy secretary of defense, but that position is vacant at the moment. The Army chief, who long held the No. 3 spot, was dropped to sixth.

The changes, announced last week, mirror the administration's new emphasis on intelligence gathering versus combat in 21st-century wars.

The line of succession is assigned to specific positions, rather than the people holding those jobs.

But this version of the doomsday plan moves up the top three under secretaries, who are Rumsfeld loyalists and who previously worked for Vice President Dick Cheney when he was defense secretary.

And the deal du jour: If the administration wants to find the person who dropped the dime on "W's" ilegal spyin', Justice should also clearly investigate illegal acts by W and the rest of the slime.

And the Abramoff scandal will be ending with a whimper, not a bang:

The plea agreement would secure the Republican lobbyist's testimony against several members of Congress who received favors from him or his clients.

Maybe it'll be enough. Come November, maybe GOP hegemony will die the death of a 1,000 cuts.