The cavalier attitude toward the checks and balance of a democratic society is a pattern with this administration. Bush and Cheney regard Congress and the judiciary as obstacles, not as equal branches of government. The polls show that a majority of Americans no longer trust this team, which is why Bush and Cheney are hitting back hard at their critics. If they lose this round over spying, the spillover effect will be devastating for their war policy and on any domestic agenda they hope to salvage. We have no mechanism to deal with a president who has lost the trust and confidence of the American people and has three years remaining in office. Impeachment is a nonissue: it’s not going to happen with Republicans in control of the House and Senate.
- Eleanor Clift
It’s almost axiomatic that politicians lie. It’s sad, and it certainly does a disservice to those politicians out there who actually work hard to tell the truth, do the right thing, and do what they were elected to do. Sadly, though, seeing as how politics seems to attract such a plethora of mediocrities, prevarication, dissembling, and bald-faced lies are part and parcel of the landscape of politics. The fun part is always determining who told the biggest self-serving whopper. Thankfully, Eleanor Clift has already done the heavy lifting for me. The list is hardly a thing of beauty, but then dishonesty and self-interest never are.
[T]he White House declaration that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby had nothing to do with leaking the identity of a covert CIA agent: This travesty was the evening of political scores at it’s most crass. Rove and Libby participated in a scheme that ultimately ruined the career of CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame, the wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson. What better way to even the score for Wilson’s “betrayal” than to get back at him through his wife? Here’s to hoping that both Rove and Libby will discover the joys of homosexual prison rape REAL soon, eh?
[E]verybody saw the same intelligence we did: Uh, not exactly….
Members of Congress don’t see the President’s Daily Briefing (one of them was the glossed-over pre-9/11 document that warned “Bin Laden Determined to Strike Inside the U.S.”), and they didn’t see all the qualifying caveats about Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, or the doubts about the credibility of the sources the administration was relying on.
Of course, Our Glorious Leader has long-since learned that if you repeat something often enough, the American Sheeple will come to regard it as the truth. (“Well, why would he keep saying it if it weren’t true, Ethel??)
We do not torture: Uh, hello…does “Abu Ghraib” and “Guantanamo Bay” and “(not so) secret CIA prisons” mean anything to The Prevaricator in Chief??
“We do not torture,” he declared despite ample evidence to the contrary from Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo to secret prisons in Eastern Europe. Vice President Cheney went to Capitol Hill repeatedly to lobby for the U.S. right to torture, capitulating only when the vote went against him 90 to 9. Sen. John McCain, who was tortured when held prisoner during the Vietnam War, took on Bush’s No. 2 and stood up for democratic principles.
Right. We don’t torture…we simply employ creative methods for extracting the truth from those who otherwise might not be inclined to provide it. “9.11” and “the war against terrorism”, don’tchaknow??
[T]he insurgency is in its last throes: Jeez, it’s a wonder that Vice President Dick Cheney has even a shred of credibility left after this whopper, isn’t it?? Oh, wait…he doesn’t? OK, then….
[T]he revelation that President Bush authorized spying on American citizens without warrants: The Prevaricator in Chief is breaking the law, but rather than accepting responsibility for his own corruption and disregard for the law, his Justice Department is investigating the leaking of this news as a criminal matter. Hubris is a wondrous thing, ain’t it??
Bush says he bypassed the law because of the need for speed. He may believe that, but the facts say otherwise.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 established a special FISA secret court designed to act expeditiously. The executive branch can tap anybody’s phone and not even get a warrant until 72 hours after the fact. The FISA court isn’t picky; it’s only turned down five requests out of 19,000 in its quarter-century existence. Bush publicly and proudly says he will continue to break the law. The Washington Post reported that one FISA court judge has resigned in apparent protest, and the others are asking why we have a secret court when it is ignored.
So, why could The Prevaricator in Chief not simply go to Congress, explain his predicament, and ask that the law be changed? Because he is Presidentiary, and clearly feels that the law is sacrosanct only insofar as it is convenient. When you can justify any action, no matter how immoral or illegal with the magic mantras: “9.11” and/or “the war on terrorism”, why waste time with Congress? The terrorists could be winning!!!
Bush says he talks to Congress all the time and that there was plenty of congressional oversight: This Administration cooperates with Congress only insomuch as it absolutely has to, and even then purely on it’s own terms. Surely no reasonable person could believe that the Bush Administration stays up at night thinking of new ways to cooperate with Congress….
The Gang of Eight (leaders of both parties in the House and Senate, plus the chair and ranking members of the Intelligence Committees) were forbidden to take notes or discuss what they were told with colleagues or staff. Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s hand-written letter to Cheney expressed uneasiness about the program. Rockefeller couldn’t have it’s legality evaluated by staff. He couldn’t even have the letter typed because of the secrecy. That hardly qualifies as congressional oversight.
Greetings from the Imperial Presidency…and remember, Lord Vader Bush doesn’t like being asked uncomfortable questions.
The White House is telling senators that Alito didn’t mean all those things he wrote about disregarding privacy rights and overturning Roe v. Wade: Right; and I suppose Samuel Alito was just a callow, inexperienced, and not politically astute thirty-something lawyer when he wrote those opinions? If you believe that, I have a ranch in Crawford, TX, that I’d be willing to sell you…cheap.
Man, 2005 sure was a good year to be a liar and a Republican, eh? Or is that redundant??
