Reno was no drama queen, but she participated in a number of dramas: the Waco siege of the Branch Davidians, the Oklahoma City bombing, the impeachment of the president who appointed her and the return of Elian Gonzalez to his Cuban father. She always did what she believed right, even when it was unpopular, and she always took responsibility for mistakes.

— Judith Hicks Stiehm. One thing missing from the list of “the rules that guided Janet Reno’s life”: killing religious weirdos and their children. I guess ordering the deaths of the Branch Davidians is merely “participating in a drama.” And as for “taking responsibility for mistakes”: when asked, when leaving office, whether she had made a mistake in sending in troops to attack the Davidians, she said, “We’ll never know."

(Reno is the beneficiary of the same logic that excuses President Obama for killing people with drones: liberals believe only Republicans are killers. Let us turn aside decorously from deaths ordered by Democrats.)

Here in Waco, there are still plenty of people whose children and grandchildren and nieces and nephews were killed in the siege that Reno ordered. If you have any decency, you’ll pause for a moment in your praise for the wonderfulness of Janet Reno and remember the people who on her orders were burned to death.