Brad DeLong goes back in time via Lexis to prove that there’s nothing particularly new or shocking about how things work in Washington today. This is not to say that we should just shrug off the excesses and lawlessness of the Bush administration as business as usual, but rather that we should try to keep perspective. I get the sense that 8 years of Bush and his media enablers is being seen as some sort of profound nadir, the depths of which will shake us awake to a new way of doing things. I very much doubt it will work like that.