Reply #2: Then the Senate should get off its duff and hold hearings on Bush administration war crimes.

[Jim Lane]

This whole "let's look forward not backward" mantra derived, I'm guessing, from a fear that seriously pursuing Bush, Cheney, and their accomplices would enrage the Republicans, who would respond by going all-out to poison the atmosphere on Capitol Hill.

Most DUers have long condemned the policy of trying to appease these lunatics, but that was, I think, the preferred policy among the Democratic Party establishment.

If Issa and his ilk start holding purely political hearings aimed at nothing except partisan advantage, then maybe -- maybe -- the Democrats will realize they have nothing left to lose. Maybe they'd be motivated to show Issa that he's not the only one who knows how to play hardball.

Of course, these hearings should have begun with the accession of the Democratic committee chairs in January 2007, but better late than never.