The further you get from power, the closer you come to the truth.

There's a difference, though, between being a political appointee and putting a political operative in charge of a U.S. attorney's office.

For David Halberstam journalism was a calling, not a job. You couldn't fire him and he wouldn't quit.

The President doesn't just appoint the Secretary of State, he appoints the Secretary of State, and then the Congress votes. And if the Congress approves that person, that person becomes Secretary of State.

Authoritarianism and secrecy breed incompetence; the two feed on each other. It's a vicious cycle. Governments with authoritarian tendencies point to what is in fact their own incompetence as the rationale for giving them yet more power.

With Jack Abramoff under indictment, a number of readers have suggested that now he might flip and try to offer the feds some figures higher up the food-chain.

Success can be built on a strong relationship between a lobbyist and a single, powerful lawmaker.