Looking for Dick

The critical issue in the Times story about hidden surveillance isn't so much whether the CIA was withholding information from Congress about a domestic surveillance program authorized by the vice president - though that is interesting enough - but rather, why the CIA would do anything on the authority of the vice president, and why the former V.P. isn’t being prosecuted for exceeding that authority?

It was always understood that Dick Cheney, a veteran politician and Washington infighter, had extraordinary influence as a counselor in the Bush administration. But if it turns out that he was in fact running what amounts to a shadow government by directing the activities of our intelligence agencies, this must be brought into the light, examined, and dealt with appropriately. The Obama administration owes at least that much to the people who voted for them.