Samuel Johnson was widely regarded as one of the wisest men in England even before Boswell's remarkable biography of his life.  He coined many witty sayings during his productive lifetime, but none more incisive or memorable than the one that fits the Cheney-Bush Junta so aptly:

"Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels."

Johnson's penetrating aphorism registered seismically a few weeks ago during another tense verbal fencing match between the Junta's deceitful propagandist Scott McClellan, who answers to the title of White House Press Secretary.  

The exchange began as Helen Thomas, dean of Washington correspondents, began interrogating McClellan about alleged White House involvement in long term detention and torture-interrogation of designated "enemy combatants" at Abu Ghraib Prison.