There’s a political law I’ve observed that bears a strong resemblance to my own, ultra-patented Corazon Theory (TM, baby). The Corazon Theory (TM, baby) bears a longer explication, but the basic notion is that the more authentic and tasty a Mexican restaurant, the higher the percentage of songs they play while you dine that contain the word "corazon." (That’s "heart" in Amurkan.) If in doubt about whether to spring for someone’s enchiladas, I just take a seat for a few songs and count up "corazons" until I hear a sufficient number to indicate high quality. So far it has served me very well indeed.
So the political version is the Unprecedented Theory. You know a scandal is really hopping and the principals have a whole lot to hide when they trot out the term "unprecedented." It’s been heard every time someone has demanded that the White House gang cough up information. They dump as much as possible that’s irrelevant, then go around bragging about how they’ve released an "unprecedented" amount of material, and just what is it these evil Democrat people want, anyway [sniffle]? We give and give, and they take and take.
Of course, the 3,000 pages of email they’ve just dumped are now labelled "unprecedented." But you want your unprecedented? Here’s what I call unprecedented. Via TPM Muckraker, who are doing a bang-up job of covering the U.S. Attorneys scandal and went to the trouble of typing up the words of White House spokesman Tony Snow:
"The executive branch is under no compulsion to testify to Congress, because Congress in fact doesn’t have oversight ability."
I’ve long considered it gospel that the Bush administration really thinks democracy is far too untidy and that the president should be crowned emperor for life. But that’s what I call throwing down the gauntlet. Not sure where Tony Snow grew up, but it doesn’t sound likely that it was the home of the brave and the land of the free. Didn’t he take Civics class?
As a friend put it, "No oversight ability. That’s exactly why Nixon was allowed to serve out his term."
When this is all over with and Bush is back to clearing brush (at this point, could there possibly be any brush left within 40 miles of his "ranch?"), I hope some squint-eyed neighbor pauses from riding fences, gives Bush a nod and says, "Welcome to democracy, partner."
