From the moment of Tom Delay's indictment, liberal grandstanding has been relentless. Its most notable mouthpieces, led by the ever—shrill House Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, characterized the indictment as solid proof of a 'culture of corruption' among the Republicans.

Similar Democrat caterwauling greets each new suggestion that some high—ranking Republican might have 'outed' Valerie Plame as a covert CIA operative. The left virtually salivates at the possibility that Presidential adviser Karl Rove could be the 'fall guy,' despite the inarguable fact that neither was Plame's work covert, nor her CIA status a secret at the time her name was disclosed.

Not wanting to end up on the wrong side of these controversies, many conservatives are reserving judgment on Delay and Rove, awaiting the official outcome of the judicial charades that must now follow. Unfortunately, their reluctance to directly confront such deception will only be perceived as weakness.

Such restrained behavior may once again do more harm than good in a political climate where the law is increasingly invoked, not as a guardian of justice, but as a weapon by which the powerful can dominate the weak.

For more than a decade, political posturing and spin, long a means of supplanting uncomfortable facts with glib soundbites, has become the primary tactic of the political left. To date nobody has engaged in such behavior more perniciously than former President Bill Clinton, abetted (and perhaps driven) by his wife Hillary.

In a newly released book My FBI, former director Louis Freeh outlines the incessant sleaze and scandal that ensued from the moment the Clintons ascended to power. Yet even the deeds covered in Freeh's account, despicable though they are, pale in comparison to the worst betrayals of the country by the Clinton Administration.

One international event of this past week, if taken in its proper context, reveals the frightening truth of just how egregiously America's security, and indeed its very future, was deliberately compromised by the Clintons.

For the second time in two years, China launched into space a manned space vehicle, this time carrying two Chinese astronauts, and retrieved it safely on the plains of Mongolia. This mission would have been impossible for the Chinese had crucial technology not been sold to them by such corporations as Loral Space Systems, with the blessing and enabling of the Clinton White House.

Predictably, the Chinese space program is thoroughly politicized and ambitious, with stated goals of a Chinese space station and manned moon landing by 2010. Whether or not the date slips, China clearly poses a far greater technological threat than it otherwise would have, absent the collaboration of the Clintons.

China is fighting a new Cold War, borne up by trade surplus dollars, which it fully intends to win. This time however, the administration of President Bill Clinton played the same role as did the Rosenbergs in the last one. Just as the infamous couple delivered critical nuclear technology to the Soviets in the late 1940's, the Clintons allowed the sale of critical missile technology to the Communist Chinese in return for campaign contributions, the dubious nature of which vastly eclipses any accusation against Delay from even his most wild—eyed critics.

Counting on the technical ignorance of the X—Box generation, Clinton dismissed the strategic technology transfers as merely benefiting 'commercial satellite technology.' But as any marginally savvy space enthusiast knows, the technology required to orbit a satellite is identical to that necessary to hurl a Chinese nuclear warhead into the American heartland.

It is unclear whether America should return to the moon and thus reestablish space supremacy, or simply pursue technology on the home front and, with regard to space feats, rest on its laurels from the 1960's. In any case, the only unacceptable course is to return the country to those leftists who originally fomented the crisis.

In the wake of September 11, Clinton's treacherous dealings with the Communist Chinese were shoved from the limelight. But even in the aftermath of that horrendous event, the sordid fingerprints of the Clintons were once again apparent, thwarting efforts to truly understand how such a thing could have transpired.

With Jamie Gorelick working from the inside and Sandy Berger on the outside, the 9—11 commission was capably prevented from identifying the culpability of the Clinton White House in leaving America vulnerable to attack.

More than four years after leaving office, the Clinton political machine continues to seriously endanger the interests of the nation. Yet Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats will not even raise an eyebrow over the Clintons' culture of corruption.

And America has only begun to pay the price.

Christopher G. Adamo is a frequent contributor.