In November 2005, the estimable Josh Marshall opined:
What this country will end up needing is something like a Truth and Reconciliation Commission because what the country needs is not so much for particular people to go to jail but for the lies and the lies to cover up earlier lies to stop. The country can’t get past what has happened or move forward until we can get the truth on the table, deal with it and move on.
Today, he seems less optimistic:
There are a hundred reasons why this won’t happen, and more than a few why it probably shouldn’t happen. Should the Democrats return wholly or partly to power this November it would be stupid to get bogged down in a lot of Kumbaya bipartisanship talk that the other side will be immediately plotting against. But what the country needs is a cold shower of the truth and a clearing of the webs of lies that have cluttered and fettered our public life. Sending crooks to the slammer is by far a secondary concern.
I agree, there will be some die-hards, some dead-enders, to use the very words oft-cited by the Cheney administration. And they may be effective in keeping corruption alive by shielding the participants and blocking the investigations.
As long as this kind of thing is considered acceptable political discourse, there is no real chance of bipartisanship or consensus.