Valid concern Matt.  I am more pissed at the republicans my problem with the MSM is more out of frustration.  The republican hubris, blatant arrogance, and abuse of power in terms of how the Congress is run (which is a legitimate on it's own) is largely being ignored by the MSM and therefore the public isn't informed.  Or it could be that, after Watergate, Iran-Contra and the Clinton impeachment the public is just disgusted with scandal and is tuning it all out? 

I've been wondering the same thing myself.  Republican does not have to equal corrupt chickenhawk.  It was the party of Lincoln, for God's sake!  Republicans of conscience stood up and denounced the Watergate crimes.  So where ARE the ethical Republicans who respect the rule of law? 

I'm gonna go ahead and let the Republicans off the hook. Newspapers in cities with machine governments do not require the presence of hearings and other whatnot to report on the corruption of the current regime. The Republicans are tremendously corrupt. The press has chosen repeatedly and thoroughly not to report this fact. How can voters make rational decisions without access to information?

The Republican party has gone to a great deal of trouble over the past thirty years to eliminate, render inconsequential and punish those members of thier party who demonstrate high-minded statesmanship. Instead they have actively recruited and run candidates like Sen. John Cornyn (who probably have not had an original thought in their lives.I think that Sen. Bill Frist fits this mold too, which is why he is an ineffectual leader.

They want partisan party loyalty over all else. It is what they train, encourage and reward.

They have not neutered every Republican Senator yet, but they are working on it. This is aided when moderate Senators such as Lincoln Chafee choose self-gelding over principle.

I think they have applied much the same technique to the media and achieved much the same result.

Matt, I agree with the general point of your post, but I'd expand the blame to include both Democrats and Republicans. Both have been spineless, though in different ways.  The Republicans have been afraid to stand for principle over partisanship--defending Bush right or wrong. The Democrats have been far too timid--often shying away from any issues that could be controversial. The good news is that things do seem to be subtly shifting in the Senate. I thought yesterday's Judiciary Committee hearing was very promising--and thought both Republicans and Democrats did a good job asking tough questions.

You are right, though, in your basic point: that, in our system, Congress is responsible for checking and balancing the executive branch and it hasn't done that very effectively.

Everyone here is sure Bush is a corrupt deceiver who should not be leading the country. I agree, but why do we believe this?  Because we found out about it in the media (print, blogs, books, whatever).  You don't have to be Dick Tracy to dig out a lot of damning facts on the Bush administration.   Yes there should be more headlines and more follow-up from the media; and Congress should excercise more oversight.  But it's interesting that no one blames the American voters who re-elected him.  They had access to the same information as you and I, and a majority decided to give him a pass.  Congress and the media can expose all the facts they want, but if a majority of the voters allow themselves to be exploited by fear, hatred, and false pride....well, there just aren't enough facts.