From The Raw Story
By Nick Juliano

Keeping track of all the scandals and malfeasance that have marked President George W. Bush’s two terms in office can prove rather taxing to even the most vigilant White House watchdog.

Now the online magazine Slate has created a handy visual aide pointing out which administration officials — including Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and scores of others — are implicated in various scandals.

The interactive Venn diagram gives Gonzales top honors as perhaps the most corrupt administration figure. Slate says Gonzales, who was White House counsel before becoming Attorney General, is implicated in all five scandals it studied: coercive interrogation, warrantless wiretapping, Justice Department hiring, Justice Department firing and CIA tapes.

“If this were The Sopranos, he’d be our Silvio,” Slate says, referring to Tony Soprano’s consigliere. (Even within theh White House, Gonzales had his own fictional-mobster-inspired nickname. The president reportedly referred to Gonzales, who had been with Bush since his time as Texas governor, as Fredo, a reference to Michael Corleone’s “weak” and “stupid” younger brother in The Godfather.)

Bush and Cheney were both directly involved in the coercive interrogation, wiretapping and tape-destruction scandals, Slate says. In its entries on each administration official, the magazine lays out the cases for and against prosecuting each of them.

The Slate reporters find reasons to prosecute both Bush and Cheney. For example, “The president, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the military, is responsible for the actions of his subordinates who broke the laws.” And, “The vice president and his office have pushed hard for violation of the law, fought to immunize lawbreakers and obstructed inquiries into lawlessness.”

Read more Gonzales