November 30, 2006

Iran-Contra

So, apparently it's been about 20 years since the Iran-Contra affair. And hardly anybody talks about it at all, even though there are clearly ideas about presidential power and such which have popped up again.

I'll admit, I'm slightly obsessed. This is the first government scandal I can remember, and I have vivid memories of Oliver North testifying. Vivid because a) he looked like a nice guy, and b) he was in a lot of trouble because he'd done things that were wrong. As a very small person, the fact that those two statements were both true was pretty shocking.

So I see Oliver North working for Fox News, and gradually find out about more and more people associated with the mess working in the current administration, and learn that Cheney actually put forward his idea of Congress not sticking their respective noses into Executive Business, lo, these 20 years ago, and think to myself: "So, was it not such a big deal after all? And if not, why not?"

I need some books on this.

Posted by Ardith at November 30, 2006 06:56 PM | TrackBack