“Here’s one from the banality of evil file,” Rafe at rc3 comments regarding Bush’s order preventing access to the presidential papers of his predecessors:

“Bush’s goal is obviously to keep records from the Reagan administration sealed. Either the papers contain information so damning that they would ruin his father’s legacy or the careers of some of his current staffers, or they contain trivial information that would be embarrassing to people he doesn’t want to see get embarrassed. If it’s the former then Bush is evil. Americans have the right to know what was done in their name. If it’s the latter, Bush is a small and petty man who’s willing eviscerate a useful and important law to protect people from things they probably ought to be accountable for anyway. John Dean is certainly right about one thing, if Bill Clinton had tried to pull a stunt like this, the Republicans would have been beating down his door with subpoenas.”