Johnson was "outraged". He immediately (before any loose facts or unruly committees got in the way) commissioned a Senate investigation to get to the bottom of the matter.

The entire investigation was controlled by his own cronies on the investigating committee and (perhaps not so) amazingly all charges disappeared in the resulting fog. (Robert Caro, The Path To Power, I believe)

Does this sound familiar? If you control the process, you win.

Want to make sure that no strong Healthcare bill gets through congress? All you need to do is put some one in charge who has no intention of letting major reform pass. Like maybe the Senator most in the pocket of the Healthcare industry...

The fix is in.

For example, private insurers could compete by reducing outrageous executive compensation (e.g. compare the salaries of the VA head with the head of United Healthcare). Private insurers could compete by reducing the amount of money they spend on ads and marketing campaigns. Private insurers could compete by cutting back on bloated staff. Private companies could compete by -- gosh -- offering value-added services. There are zillions of ways to answer the question. So why the cop-out?

Russert made me cringe at times, but Sunday mornings belonged to Meet The Press. These days, Face the Nation is the only Sunday show I can stomach.

They should have given MTP to Chris Mathews, who at least knows how to get-in-your-face...

This is precisely the opposite of the previous regime, which prosecuted lower level scapegoats while avidly defending the higher-ups who created the policy.

Its all there in black and white: the tortured reasoning (!), the sad intentional gullibility (as long as you tell him its stings aren't lethal, its perfectly alright to lock someone in a small box with a horde of insects...).

This is premeditated torture, plain and simple, complete with carefully inserted lawyerly caveats to protect the guiltiest. (You assured us you wouldn't be using sleep deprivation for prolonged periods so we're off the hook...)

If AIG had gone under they would have lost nearly all of their CDS "insurance" money. How exactly is the money that government-propped-up-and-owned AIG paid to Goldman NOT government largesse?

More importantly, how is it that Goldman, which we now know as the largest beneficiary of the AIG collapse/bailout, was able to negotiate a $10B bailout of their own while denying that they had a direct stake in what happens to AIG?

This is called fraud.

...Just like the guy who goes door to door selling life insurance from a fly-by-night company ("You signed a contract ma'am. Maybe you missed that part. See, its here in the fine print. I know its mighty small, but you signed it. See, here's your signature..." Good luck getting paid.