Life as a Spectator Sport

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Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Cheney says Bush was just getting Presidential power back

Of all the justifications I expected to hear, the excuse that the safeguards put in place post-Watergate somehow "eroded" presidential authority was not one of them.
President Bush's decision to bypass court review and authorize domestic wiretapping by executive order was part of a concerted effort to rebuild presidential powers weakened in the 1970s as a result of the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War, Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday.

Returning from a trip to the Middle East, Cheney said that threats facing the country required that the president's authority under the Constitution be "unimpaired."

"Watergate and a lot of the things around Watergate and Vietnam, both during the 1970s, served, I think, to erode the authority I think the president needs to be effective, especially in the national security area," Cheney told reporters traveling with him on Air Force Two. "Especially in the day and age we live in … the president of the United States needs to have his constitutional powers unimpaired, if you will, in terms of the conduct of national security policy."

Cheney's remarks were recorded by reporters traveling with him and disseminated by the White House under an official pool arrangement.
His "constitutional powers." The problem with that phrase is that the safeguards were put in place to protect us against a president who thought the constitution gave him permission to do whatever he wanted.

We live in a police state now. Most people just haven't woken up to the fact. Theocracy is the next step, and anyone who thinks it isn't coming isn't paying attention.
posted by Liz @ 2:19 PM     |


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