I am Kyle's self-indulgence

I hate gloaters. I think it's obnoxious, arrogant, and immature to boast after winning an argument or being proven right. I think the best way to handle such a situation is with a quiet dignity.

Nevertheless, I find it very difficult to remain dignified when political leaders I don't like are finally exposed as negligent, deceitful, self-serving, and crooked; when far less than half of the population approves of a particular leader; and when said leader find it increasingly difficult to put forth any of his agenda (I'm not gloating, I swear).

The Washington Times has a pretty thorough account of the legal and political problems facing the Republican majority that has dominated Washington for over a decade (still not gloating). It also contains some interesting analysis about how so many scandals are mounting at once. As expected, there is the conservative voice claiming that these are partisan attacks:

"Some of it is cyclical politically," said Leonard A. Leo, who has taken leave as executive vice president of the conservative Federalist Society to help promote the Miers nomination. "And some of it, I'll be honest, is when the left and the Democrats are losing the battle of ideas, they turn to manufacturing scandal."

Manufacturing scandal? That seems pretty naive. Tom DeLay tried to claim that the prosecutor who brought charges against him was partisan, but it was later revealed that the man has prosecuted more Democratic politicians than Republicans. And the Valerie Plame case? That was a scandal long before anyone guessed Karl Rove could be responsible (his involvement is just icing on the cake (still not gloating!)). Hurricane Katrina merely called attention to Bush's long practice of appointing unqualified cronies to high positions. The Meiers appointment did the same, but also revealed the President may not be as committed to the Religious Right as he has claimed. And the host of legal problems facing other Republicans in Congress? I don't really have the time to go into them right now, but they seem to be very separate legal issues. Claiming that Democrats have orchestrated a massive witchhunt into the financial dealings of so many politicians is giving them far more credit than they deserve.

No, I believe that the legal and political challenges to Republicans are signs of something far bigger and more powerful than a single political party. These are the winds of change. We've all heard that after the September 11 attacks, Americans united as a single nation like no other time in recent memory. Unfortunately, many people thought that being patriotic means not questioning our nation. For the next several years, we allowed our leaders to seize unprecedented power. When they committed acts that most objective observers would call illegal, or at least questionable, we looked the other way. There was even a point when Americans were defending the use of torture against prisoners.

Recently Congress passed a bipartisan measure to end the torture practices approved by President Bush, an act that was long overdue. The last four years we have been living under a cloud of fear and blind patriotism. That cloud is finally lifting, and in the daylight we can see the corruption we ignored for so long.

At long last, we are calling our leaders to account for their self-serving actions. We are punishing them for their crimes. We are taking our country back.

And there is no shame in gloating about that.