Glenn Greenwald:

The controversy of the AIG bonuses -- which, strictly as a quantitative matter, is rather trivial in the scheme of things -- illustrates how warped our political discourse is. Here is the hierarchy of positions regarding executive compensation limits back in February:

• Chris Dodd -- advocated full-scale, no-exceptions limits on executive compensation for bailed-out companies
• Obama administration -- supported limits but advocated exceptions for already-existing employment contracts
• GOP leaders -- opposed all executive compensation limits as Socialist tyranny

Yet everything is exactly backwards in this controversy. The Obama administration has been trying to blame Dodd for the carve-out that allowed the AIG bonus payments, a carve-out that came into being because Geithner/Summers demanded it and because they opposed the limits Dodd wanted as too onerous. And now, the GOP -- which opposed limits of any kind -- wants to blame the Obama administration and Dodd because the limits weren't stringent enough to stop the AIG bonus payments. And the media is playing along perfectly, having clearly decided that the person who led the way in fighting for absolute compensation limits -- Dodd -- is the real villain responsible for the AIG bonuses.

The fact that the misinformation and confusion about who supported what can happen is exactly why it is possible for things like this to happen in the first place. There can be no accountability when as a society we have no memory about why things are happening. And really, that's just the way everyone likes it.