Checks and balances

It was remarkable to see President Bush lecture Vladimir Putin on the importance of checks and balances in a democratic society.

[. . .]

Even the near absence of checks and balances is not enough for W. Not content with controlling the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court and a good chunk of the Fourth Estate, he goes to even more ludicrous lengths to avoid being challenged.

The White House wants its Republican allies in the Senate to stamp out the filibuster, one of the few weapons the handcuffed Democrats have left. They want to invoke the so-called nuclear option and get rid of the 150-year-old tradition in order to ram through more right-wing judges.

[. . .]

MoDo in NYT. I got more on this over at The Cross.