In a lot of ways, the height of the Bush dynasty, from 2002-2006, never happened as far as the chattering classes are concerned:

For moderate voters clinging to some faith in government, the question over the past two decades of mostly two-party rule was: Can’t Washington do anything? Now, with one party pretty much in control, the question has become both more hopeful and more anxious: Will Washington do anything responsibly?

Is Hiatt actually claiming that a 3.5 trillion dollar war was responsible? That running up hundreds of billions of deficits during a time of economic expansion was responsible? That Democrats had any say in government from 2002-2006?

The period between 9/11 and Katrina was a truly embarrassing time for our government and for our press corps. So why not just pretend it didn’t happen? Pretend this never happened:

I think we were very deferential, because in the East Room press conference, it’s live. It’s very intense. It’s frightening to stand up there… You are standing up on prime time live television, asking the president of the United States a question when the country is about to go to war.

Pretend this never happened:

In this autumn of anger, even a liberal can find his thoughts turning to … torture. OK, not cattle prods or rubber hoses, at least not here in the United States, but something to jump-start the stalled investigation of the greatest crime in American history. Right now, four key hijacking suspects aren’t talking at all.

And it isn’t just the media of course: it still amazes me that Hillary Clinton never addressed her Iraq war vote during the 2008 campaign. And that her failure to address it is rarely cited as a reason why she lost.