so close you can smell the stench of corruption

I'm in Washington DC this week, and given the news out of this place, it's oddly appropriate that I'm putting up at the Watergate Hotel. After the last few blustery days, today started out damp and blossomed into a ripe warm spring afternoon. The Mall was vibrant, dressed in fresh grass and cherry blossoms, and the White House shone radiant in the afternoon sun. But there is a deep-seated poison here, a miasma of corruption both willful and pervasive. You can almost see it, hear the bastards cackling with glee.

When you're this close, you can really feel the power and hubris of our so called leaders.

"A senior administration official, speaking on background because White House policy prohibits comment on an active investigation, said Bush sees a distinction between leaks and what he is alleged to have done. The official said Bush authorized the release of the classified information to assure the public of his rationale for war as it was coming under increasing scrutiny."

"Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales left open the possibility yesterday that President Bush could order warrantless wiretaps on telephone calls occurring solely within the United States — a move that would dramatically expand the reach of a controversial National Security Agency surveillance program."

"DeLay said Thursday that announcing his resignation has been liberating. Quoting Martin Luther King. Jr., DeLay said, 'Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last.'"

A leak is not a leak unless I say so. We won't spy on American citizens without a warrant, unless we decide that we want to. Tom DeLay cloaks himself in the words of Martin Luther King Jr.

The audacity of these people is beyond belief.

[Quotes from Washington Post, Washington Monthly, and the Hill newsletter, all via Talking Points Memo, the best political news site in the blogosphere.]