Now let me get this straight: Mr. Douthat wanted sick old Dick Cheney to run for president in 2008 so he could lose by a landslide and remake the Republican Party as a more palatable (to him) conservative entity? As opposed to the "mavaricky" McCain (a closet liberal)?

What has Ross been drinking? Or is he trying to define himself as a "good" conservative as opposed to the wacky Dick? And hoping his brand of "sensible" conservatism wins out over that of Cheney and Company?

Cheney could not have handled the physical requirements of a campaign which even McCain was barely able to. And I doubt the GOP would ever have nominated him as they were trying to distance themselves from the Bushies.

As for saying that the Democrats would be out of their minds to investigate torture in the Bush Administration, I would only say that I think this is out of their hands. I believe that it will be investigated whether anyone of any party likes it or not; too much has come out already.

I think Ross Douthat is in the unenviable position of trying to make lemonade from the lemons that he has inherited, but I don't think this is a very auspicious beginning for his tenure at the Times.

— Edward Gold, New York, NY

Apparently, my comment on Ross was too negative for the Times as it is nowhere to be found. No matter, I've put it here.

It really is too bad that the "Gray Lady" feels it necessary to cover up its poor judgment in its choice of columnists.

Mr. Rich is right on the money! There is no doubt that the Bushies wanted to sell a war in a country which was absolutely unrelated to 9/11 and, to that end, would stop at nothing to establish a fake connection between Al Quaeda and Iraq.

Mr. Obama's administration released the torture documents and Barack has got to be in a state of denial if he thinks there will be no consequences and we should "put this all behind us". Too late for that!

Yes, Rich is correct in writing that none of this information is new but bluntly exposing this to the public view now, I think, has only one purpose.

Obama is a bright man and he knows what he is doing, even if he says the opposite of what he knows is going to happen.

Let the investigations and the trials begin!

— Edward Gold, New York, NY

Inevitably, this subject has come up and I've commented on it at great length elsewhere. But, to summarize my feelings about it:

Despite Mr.Bush's bland assertion that "We don't torture", it seems we at least did during his administration. Khalid Sheik Mohammed, was "waterboarded" 183 times for example, and I would wonder to what end was this done?

That this man was no beauty has to be admitted but why has this country reverted to medieval practices in dealing with prisoners? Sorry, but I think we need to be better than that! The idea that these people have done far worse does not excuse what we have done and I think the Golden Rule needs to be observed at all times (Do unto others what you would have done unto you.).

It is understandable that the Bush Administration doesn't want its crimes exposed but not to do so and not to punish those who committed them would only mean they would be repeated. This would include those who administered these tortures and the idea that the they were just following orders is a rather unacceptable echo of, for example, the Nuremberg Trials. It didn't wash then and won't wash now.

Barack Obama wants to "move on" and this is laudable but we cannot move on without dealing with what has already happened. There are some signs that this idea has somewhat penetrated the consciousness of the present administration.

We need a thorough investigation of these crimes and we and Congress need to make sure that they will never happen again.

It seems as though the comments on the President and First Lady just go on and on and on. And endlessly they are connected with everything that happens anywhere.

Blago:

For example, former Illinois Governor Blagojevich is indicted=Illinois politics are corrupt=Obama is an Illinois Politician=Obama is corrupt! The wingnuts are foaming at the mouth and have, on no evidence whatever, indicted Obama. With these whackos, "Barry Hussein" is a Moslem terrorist unlike Dubya and Dick who are perfect gentlemen and think only of their country!

Can we just say "smear"?

Michelle Touches the Queen:

OMG: what a scandal! Though it seems the Queen touched Michelle first.

Michelle's fashion sense:

She doesn't care. Why should anyone else? OK, she's not a fashion plate like Jackie but neither, at this point, is Liz Windsor whose pink "old lady" dress was not much of a fashion statement. Of course, she and the other female Windsors have always been rightly characterized as "dowdy".

Barack has enough to worry about without this B.S. and I think his ill-thought-out economic policy and almost Bushian religiosity are more worthy of discussion than this.