Robert Bork NPR this morning aired this overview of the Watergate scandal, which was very interesting and useful to someone who didn't live through it and knows the basics, but tends to get confused by the many names involved :)

Anyway, one part stood out. The Saturday night massacre ended when Robert Bork fired Archibald Cox, after his two superiors refused to do so. This depraved act of Bork's was surely a motivating factor behind the Democrats' opposition of his nomination to the Supreme Court in the 1980s (altho I'd appreciate some perspective on this from someone who knows more about the hearings).

That hearing seems to be the point in time people mark as the beginning of the current combative legislative tone, everything having been tit for tat since then. It's interesting to me that even that moment had its origin in the jaw-dropping abuse of power that was Watergate, surely one of the more clear-cut cases of right vs. wrong we've had in American politics.

On other words, the Republicans' choosing loyalty over fairness and justice is what got us where we are today. Hmm, when I say it that way it seems kind of obvious...
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