In the decades after Watergate, Washington figures in legal or political hot water heard some familiar words of wisdom: The coverup is almost always worse than the crime. Never hunker down. Above all, never lie.

Lately, though, the evidence is mounting that this tried-and-true advice may no longer hold true, the Washington Post's John F. Harris writes in Tuesday's paper. Recent evidence suggests that hunkering down can sometimes work just fine, in a political and news media environment that has changed significantly in recent years.

Examples he uses include poor Sandy Berger's plea on taking a few documents, and the evil Tom Delay, who let's face it, has to go.

The examples he forgets are the biggest of them all: George W. Bush's slide on WMD in Iraq and breaking the federal budget. Some conservatism, eh? Then there's the Abu Graib and AWOL business, and everything else our Texas Souffle leader is never to be held accountable for - since that's up to the voters, and they spoke, right? At least according to the final few fixed electronic ballots in Ohio.

The upshot here is, of course, that "one-party control" by Republicans at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue "changes the dynamic substantially" in political scandals, says John D. Podesta, head of the liberal Center for American Progress and a White House and congressional staff veteran. "You just don't have anyone in power in Congress who will issue a subpoena."

That is the problem - and our dilemma.

Any thoughts on how we get ourselves out of this mess?

Site Note: The server is still being worked on to protect against vicious spam attacks by unknown enemies of the causes of freedom and truth. Hopefully all the bugs and the spooks will be run off soon. Surely they can find a dirtier kitchen to infest somewhere else.

GW