Tag: Impeachment

Breaking: Bush Commutes Libby’s Sentence

Jon Ponder

So much for the rule of law:

President Bush commuted the sentence of former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby on Monday, sparing him from a 2½-year prison term that Bush said was excessive…

“I respect the jury’s verdict,” Bush said in a statement. “But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby’s sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.”

Is Cheney Giving State Secrets to the Saudis?

Jon Ponder

Rogue government: Is the Vice President of the United States doling out the nation’s secrets to its allies, such as the Saudis or the Israelis? Or how about our enemies — the Chinese, North Korea, Iran?

Cheney has visited Saudi Arabia twice in the past seven months — at the end of November and again in May. Who can say whether his mission was to deliver state secrets to the Saudi king?

No one knows the answer to these questions because Cheney refuses to allow his own administration’s inspectors to certify his compliance with his own administration’s security directives. He has exempted himself from oversight.

Since noothing compels him to tell the truth, why in the world would anyone believe a word he says? Why should we give him the benefit of a doubt that he is not giving away national secrets?

In the 1990s, the rightwing accused Vice Pres. Al Gore of selling weapons plans to the Chinese in exchange for campaign donations. This led to a House investigation chaired by Rep. Dan Burton (R-Indiana) that eventually cost American taxpayers $7.4 million, making it the costliest congressional inquiry ever — all for nothing, of course.

Without oversight on how Dick Cheney is handling our nation’s secrets, for all we know he is packing them up in crates and shipping them to the Saudis or the Chinese or the North Koreans.

Cheney has visited Saudi Arabia twice in the past seven months — at the end of November and again in May. Who can say whether his mission was to deliver state secrets to the Saudi king? Apparently, even Pres. Bush does not know what his vice president is up to.

“Warrantless Wiretaps” Now Spun into “Warrant-Free Eavesdropping”

Trish

This reeks of classic Rove.

The AP — and therefore official mainstream media — wording for Bush/Cheney’s warrantless wiring taping program is suddenly the new and improved “warrant-free program” or alternatively, “warrant-free eavesdropping.”

“Warrantless” wiring taping sounds as if what you did was without a warrant, which would make it illegal. “Warrant-free” just means you were unfettered by warrants. That sounds so much nicer.

Think about it. Warrantless wiring taping sounds as if what you did was without a warrant, which would make it illegal. Warrant-free just means you were unfettered by warrants. That sounds so much nicer, doesn’t it? Like sugar-free is superior to sugarless, or law-free is better than illegal.

And eavesdropping is what Lucy did to Ethel when she was trying to find out what Ricky was getting for her birthday. Wiring tapping…well, that makes makes you think of Watergate.

Here was yesterday’s debut usage, picked up by CNN:

The Senate subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney’s office Wednesday, demanding documents and elevating the confrontation with President Bush over the administration’s warrant-free eavesdropping on Americans.

And here’s today’s, picked up by newspapers everywhere:

Just Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, demanding documents pertaining to terrorism-era warrant-free eavesdropping. “It’s an outrageous request,” White House press secretary Tony Snow said.

I like that “terrorism-era” tacked in front. That tells you these are dangerous times we’re living in, and they call for desperate measures. Which it’s really not AP’s job to tell you.

Meanwhile at trustworthy Reuters, it’s still warrantless, plus it’s domestic spying:

The assertion of executive privilege to the congressional subpoenas for material related to the probe on the firings of the prosecutors comes one day after Leahy’s committee subpoenaed the White House for documents related to the administration’s warrantless domestic spying program.

Right on, Reuters.

Bush Says He, Too, Is Above the Law – Including His Own Presidential Decrees

Jon Ponder

That whirring sound you hear is the U.S. Constitution going through the shredder:

The White House said Friday that, like Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, President Bush’s office is not allowing an independent federal watchdog to oversee its handling of classified national security information.

An executive order that Bush issued in March 2003 — amending an existing order — requires all government agencies that are part of the executive branch to submit to oversight. Although it doesn’t specifically say so, Bush’s order was not meant to apply to the vice president’s office or the president’s office, a White House spokesman said.

Cheney Claims to Be Above the Law – Literally

Jon Ponder

Rogue Vice President Who Exposed CIA Agent’s Secret Identity Now Refuses Security Oversight That Protects State Secrets

Just when you think you’ve run out of capacity for outrage, comes this:

So does this mean Cheney can’t claim executive privilege?

For the last four years, Vice President Dick Cheney has made the controversial claim that his office is not fully part of the Bush administration in order to exempt it from a presidential order regulating federal agencies’ handling of classified national security information, officials said Thursday.

Investigators for the House government oversight committee revealed yesterday that Cheney’s office has refused to allow the National Archives security unit to conduct mandatory inspections to ensure that sensitive materials were being handled properly.

According to Cheney, he is exempt from security oversight because the vice president has two functions, one in the Executive Branch and in the Legislative Branch, where he serves as president of the Senate.

Rep. Henry Waxman, chair of the House committee, also said Cheney tried to have the inspectors’ department — the National Archives’ Information Security Oversight Office — abolished because it tried repeatedly to force the vice president to comply with the regulations.

On one hand, this really shouldn’t be surprising since it was Vice President Cheney who orchestrated the traitorous campaign to reveal the identity of U.S. secret agent Valerie Plame Wilson, a covert CIA agent who was tracking black-market sales of weapons of mass destruction.

The final irony is that the compliance is part of a presidential directive established 30 years ago and then amended by Pres. George W. Bush in 2003.

So does this mean Cheney can’t claim executive privilege?

H/t: Thomas Kent

Houston Chronicle: Jail Libby Now

Trish

A call for immediate imprisonment of convicted liar Lewis Libby has come from a surprising source: the biggest newspaper in one of the biggest cities in the president’s home state.

Houston Chronicle:

Libby’s lawyers and supporters want Libby to stay out of prison while he appeals, which could take more than a year. [U.S. District Judge Reggie] Walton seems disinclined to go along, noting that people in Libby’s position, “where they have the welfare and security of the nation in their hands,” have a special obligation to be truthful. Libby failed to meet that obligation, stands little chance of having his conviction overturned and should start serving his sentence now.

Libby’s conviction and sentence is a fair outcome to a troubling chapter that afforded Americans a rare glimpse into the machinations of a secretive White House determined to go to war and to undermine its critics by whatever means available, even at the risk of putting covert operatives and their contacts in harm’s way.

Is Bush’s Base Softening on Impeachment?

Jon Ponder

Over the past week or so, conservatives who oppose Pres. Bush’s immigration bill have been on the receiving end of insulting and denigrating attacks in the media from the president and his flying monkeys. They are apoplectic over being framed as unpatriotic and bigoted, and they seem genuinely shocked to find that, like any old-school messianic cult leader, Dear Leader treats all opposition as heresy.

“Message To The Left: I’m not saying you should impeach him, I’m just sayin’, you know, go with your hearts.”
— Conservative blogger

Peggy Noonan, who has been as Bush cult-y as anyone, described the angst among Bush’s base in a column dramatically subtitled, “President Bush has torn the conservative coalition asunder”:

The president has taken to suggesting that opponents of his immigration bill are unpatriotic–they “don’t want to do what’s right for America.” His ally Sen. Lindsey Graham has said, “We’re gonna tell the bigots to shut up.” On Fox last weekend he vowed to “push back.” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff suggested opponents would prefer illegal immigrants be killed; Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said those who oppose the bill want “mass deportation.” Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson said those who oppose the bill are “anti-immigrant” and suggested they suffer from “rage” and “national chauvinism.”

And then she asks, beseeachingly, “Why would they speak so insultingly, with such hostility, of opponents who are concerned citizens?”

Welcome to our world, Peggy. Bush and company have been directing insults and hostility toward us “concerned citizens” on the left for seven years.

At the top of her piece, Noonan asserts that Bush’s base hasn’t broken with him on immigration, it’s the other way around:

What conservatives and Republicans must recognize is that the White House has broken with them. What President Bush is doing, and has been doing for some time, is sundering a great political coalition.

How bad is it among Bush’s base? The National Journal’s Blogometer posits that if congressional Dems were to move toward impeachment over Bush’s violations of the FISA laws, they would find conservatives in no mood to object:

Let’s pretend the House Judiciary Cmte. tires of Monica Goodling and Co., and returns their attention to the NSA surveillance program. Article II powers aside, has anyone really made the case Pres. Bush didn’t violate FISA? Wouldn’t monitoring Americans phone records contra to federal law constitute a high crime or misdemeanor? And if articles of impeachment were drawn up, after the immigration debacle, who exactly would come to Bush’s defense? Laura Ingraham? National Review? Conservative stalwart Ace of Spades sums up conservative sentiment: “Message To The Left: I’m not saying you should impeach him, I’m just sayin’, you know, go with your hearts.”

Blogometer also put together a round up of angry posts about Bush from conservatives, many of whom discuss the possibility of impeachment:

[…]

Breaking: Bush Gets ‘Blunt Talk’ from GOP House Delegation

Jon Ponder
“My district is prepared for defeat.”
— GOP rep to Bush

NBC News is reporting that a delegation of House members called on Pres. Bush yesterday in the private residence of the White House to inform him that he has lost all credibility on the war among their constituents.

Pres. Bush was advised that he and his spokespersons should stop making claims about progress in Iraq altogether. One of the congressmen told him, “We need candor. We need honesty, Mr. President.”

Here’s a rough transcript of the NBC News report:

[…]

Bush at 28% Again – Is It a Sign of a ‘Dead Duck’ Presidency?

Jon Ponder

In the new Newsweek poll, approval of Bush’s job performance has dropped to 28 percent. That’s the second time this year — the first was in a CBS Poll taken in January, during the week before his State of the Union address. Twice in a little over three months is not a good sign for him but not yet a clear signal of a major shift.

George W. Bush has been rewarded for his phone-it-in attitude and his incompetence with money and power, time and time again. No one has failed as far upwards as he has.

Pres. Bush lost the support of independents long ago (and what little support he had from Democrats evaporated when he invaded Iraq), so it has been support from mainstream Republicans that has buoyed his approval ratings in the mid-30s. But if he skids along in the 20s for the next few months, it is a sign that the mainstream has given up on him.

Left with only the wingnut base of Christian nationalists and whackjob extremists behind him, Pres. Bush could become, not a lame duck, but a dead one.

George W. Bush was born lucky, but throughout his life he has taken for granted the extraordinary advantages handed to him — in military service, business and government. He wasted or mismanaged nearly every cushy assignment given him, usually with impunity. In fact — and here’s the luck again — despite his lifelong incompetence, phone-it-in attitude and cronies-only hiring practices, he has been lauded with power and money at every turn. No one has failed as far upwards as he has.

But if he loses the support of his party’s rank and file now — the way he lost it from the rest of us ages ago — his luck could finally run out. To save their own skins, Republicans in Congress, especially the 21 out of 48 GOP senators who are up for reelection in 2008, might feel compelled to abandon him on the war, and perhaps even to agree to corrective action against him, such as a censure or worse.