Reply #64: And Gonzales' insane statement was soundly rebuked by the Supreme Court.

[Occam Bandage]

The only difference between Bush and every Presidency before him is that he is worse at hiding what he does. I like your "stage" analogy, though. Here's how I see it:

We're at a play. You see a stagehand briefly poke his head on stage from the left wing. Later, you hear a crashing noise as a ladder falls. You say, "hey, wait! This is all a big lie! Can't you see it's a big lie!? THIS IS THE WORST SCAM THAT HAS EVER BEEN FOISTED ON ANYONE! THEY'RE CON ARTISTS!"

I say, "yeah, no shit it's a lie. That's what theater is. It's a lie. Yes, they take our money by lying to us. The only difference between this and any of the plays you happily watched beforehand is that this production crew is completely incompetent at disguising that."