The Bush gang comes up with a new one
By Steve Benen Tuesday Jun 26, 2007 7:03amSo, the Vice President exempted himself from an executive order on the handling of classified materials. To rationalize the decision, Dick Cheney and the White House want people to believe that the Vice President is not part of the executive branch of government. No one, anywhere, is buying it.
Yesterday, Cheney’s lawyers rolled out Absurd Rationalization #2.
Vice President Cheney’s office offered its first public written explanation yesterday for its refusal to comply with an executive order regulating the handling of classified material, arguing that the order makes clear that the vice president is not subject to the oversight system it creates for federal agencies.
In a letter to Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), Cheney Chief of Staff David S. Addington wrote that the order treats the vice president the same as the president and distinguishes them both from “agencies” subject to the oversight provisions of the executive order.
Addington did not cite specific language in the executive order supporting this view, and a Cheney spokeswoman could not point to such language last night.
This need not be complicated. Sec. 6.1(b) of the executive order explicitly states that it applies to any “‘Executive agency…any ‘Military department’…and any other entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information.” To exempt Cheney, the White House to argue that he a) doesn’t have access to classified information; or b) is not an entity within the executive branch. Those are the only two options.
Yesterday, Addington tried to create a new option, insisting that the E.O. had a provision that doesn’t exist. Maybe it was written in disappearing ink? Maybe you need special 3-D glasses to read these hidden provisions? Please.
Login or Register to post comments.
Impeach Cheney.
Then, remove him.
Repeat for Bush.
IMPEACH IMPEACH IMPEACH NOW!!!
I sure hope the Democrats don't give in on this. If Cheney claims his office is not a branch of the executive government, don't fund him! It is such the proper response to this criminal. Never in American history have we had a president and vice president so deserving of impeachment and removal from office and jail time. And I can kind of, sort of remember the Nixon years. Bush/Cheney is/are even more criminal!
Impeachment Now!
I question whether it matters or not. It's not like anyone is actually going to stop him. Sure, someone finally noticed that he's running the country like he's running a private plantation and they said something. Other than that what do you suppose is going to happen?
We can impeach now, right? This means that Cheney's office is deliberately breaking federal law.....and is trying to re-interpret the Constitution and the 25th Amendment in order to justify it. Enough. It's time to impeach.
I have already written Kerry, Schumer, Kennedy, and Feingold.....
Maybe the provision is classified, is being regulated by Cheney's office and we don't get to see it and he doesn't have to show it!
IMPEACH Cheney!
Truly they are grasping at straws with this absurd argument. They will say anything and dare someone to challenge it. Confrontation is a must, but I don't see it happening yet.
This explains a lot though, as dickbushie is running things, while vacationing bushie, remains hapless and clueless.
Jeez. Makes you wonder what the hell he's hiding. It's not like classified information will become public tomorrow... it'll most likely be at least 20 years before the FOIA kicks in and that information becomes declassified. By that time, he'll be dead because his source of virgin blood from young innocents that he drinks daily to keep him alive will have run out.
Didn't you get your magic Cheney de-coder ring yet?
Maybe Cheney isn't an "entity." He's anti-matter, or dark matter, or "where logic goes to die."
Even though some of you may disagree with my fear it may happen, you can certainly by now see my logic in fearing that these two clusterf*cks may decide they don't have to step down from office in '09.
Congress, show us what you got. Pull Cheney's funding and watch Congressional approval jump to 80%.
How about this EO makes no mention of fathers whose daughters eat pussy therefore I am not subject to the EO?
That makes sense.
This is the official position of:
Cymbalists for Cheney
.
Why isn't there a Federal Marshall at the OEOB right now, hauling Cheney and his enablers away in chains? Cheney pulls this shit [i]because he gets away with it[/].
Keep the lame arguments coming, Dick! The obvious assumption for anyone who is half paying attention is that Cheney must be trying to hide something. The longer he drags this out, the worse it looks. So, please, keep dodging accountability, Mr. Cheney. See Dick run! Run, Dick, run!
Frauds and criminals.
These people are TRAITORS to everything the Founders believed in. They are traitors to our system of government, the people that elected them, the honorable soldiers dying and being wounded in a false war, to all that this country represents.
Impeachment?
Men have HUNG for lesser offenses.
The President is a narcissistic moron without a shred of common decency.
The Vice President is a contemptible swine.
For some reason the words to the song, "Desperado" come to mind as I read more and more about his pathetic reasoning.
If this ever comes before the Supreme Court you can be sure that Scalia, Roberts and Alito will cook-up a very complex word stew that justifies Cheney's position.
Caught a frame of a Fox News broadcast last night while at the gym (couldn't hear the sound). The caption at the bottom of the screen said "Plot against Cheney?", or something very similar. The telecaption said the the GOP powers that be (I wonder who they are) would use Cheney's scheduled pacemaker replacement surgery later this summer as an excuse to put him out to pasture. Cheney will retire on "doctor's orders".
I think Fox needs to rethink exactly who is the plotter, and who the plotee.
Cheney's continued and continuous efforts to hide information from the American public rings of Shakespeare's "Methinks thou doest protest too much", caveat. That purely political, purely business information has been classified as national security secrets - as well as defending that secrecy at all costs - would seem to indicate criminality at the highest levels of our government. To think otherwise would be naive.
Isn't the Vice President an AGENT of the US? For instance in a secret energy meeting, wouldn't Cheney be acting as an agent for the American People? That is if this weren't Bizarro World!
"Badges!? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!!"
Isn't this enough to convince the people to howl? It's awfully quiet outside, just us bloglodytes in here waiting for some serious investigation of the Soviet-era thug Cheney.
These guys cannot and should not be impeached.
It will make them Martyrs and the right wing will sanctify them, and the MSM will follow right along.
i.e.
"bush was such a great president and the democrats would not let him finish all of the great work he was doing"
The democrats are hip to this, I think, and this is why they are resisting calls to impeach.
It will be far better to see this fool slowly descend into mediocrity, where history will be free to say that he could have done the right thing because no one was standing in his way and still he chose the road of deceit and willful ignorance. Besides, I think that we still have yet to see bush truly break down. Even though he preaches the mantra of "let history judge me", being considered a failure at the most important job in the world has a funny way of breaking men down, and hopefully he will return to his real job, rich spoiled drunkard.
Impeachment of a president=just reward
Seeing a president run down 100 Pennsylvania ave. wearing a wife beater and boxers while holding a half full bottle of old grandad in 10 degree weather on inauguration day= priceless
BEing tht cheney could be imprisoned for his latest crime, isn't it a pity that our corporatist Congressional leaders have taken impeachment off the table?
Impeachment already.
There was an article at DailyKos that said -- cheney gets final review of the budget. That since about 2003 he has been diverting 10% of each agencys funds to the vice presidents office. And that it amounts to about maybe 50 million dollars.
Now what I want to know is where are the records that this money was spent for. What in the hell did cheney use this money for, or where in the hell is it stashed. Does he have a secret army and is using the money to pay for it, (Blackwater). Is he planning to take over the country before the 2008 election.
If I was congress everything would be dropped and this would be at the top of the pile. And I would get someone to wisk Libby away to a secret location and water board him.
Its a great story in that it shows they are so accustomed to lying and get away with it that they no longer feel compelled to even try to make sense. When asked about it he may as well say, "ask the turtles, they are momomomo, shheeaaak!!!! sheeeeakk!!!", while flapping his arms. The meaning would be just as clear -- I dont answer to anyone.
The dream of America is now a nightmare.
We were the world's friend, now we are its enemy. When was the last state visit by one of our allies? Over a year ago? The President went to the Economic Summit and was ignored.
He is hated. We are hated.
THAT is the legacy of this Administration of charlatans and frauds.
These robbers don't even share their bounty with our allies. They expect our allies to pay in blood for our adventures, and then we freeze them out of the contracts. THAT is how Bushco does business. THAT is how Dick Cheney does business.
Where is the "coalition"? There ain't none. The Brits are as good as gone, and everyone else HAS gone. Yeah...heck of a job, Georgie.
Who pays for the greed and avarice of these despicable bastards? The American People do. They pay in the blood of their sons and daughters, and in their hard earned money. Trillions of dollars in debt...yet no national healthcare. Trillions of dollars in debt, yet less and less money for education grants. Trillions of dollars in debt, yet a national highway system that is outdated and falling apart. Trillions of dollars in debt yet no national mass transit system. Trillions of dollars in debt, yet big corporations scream and GET tax relief. Trillions of dollars in debt, yet the top 2% scream and GET tax rellief. Trillions of dollars in debt.
President of the United States! HA! Leader of the "Free World"! HA!
George Bush is a joke. An absolute joke. His entire life and privilege are based on his being shot out of the right cannon. The man is a useless waste of life who would be sipping ThunderBird out of a paper bag in a dark alley if he weren't a Bush.
Dick Cheney is simply evil incarnate. The man is simply a criminal. He is the worst type of amoral psychopath.
The rest of the Bushco minions are simply that. They are minions. People without a shred of self respect, without a shred of self worth, devoid of all the good things that you are taught by your parents, your grandparents, your school and your church.
I despise them all.
I've said it before and I'll say it again...attorneys within this administration such as David Addington and Alberto Gonzales should be brought before the bar and lose their licenses to practice law. The actions they have taken have crossed the lines of ethics and possibly legality. They know better.
I agree. while they should not impeach potus or vpotus, their underlings sshoudl be on the hit list bigtime. attack the arms and legs of the beast if the head is too strong.
Question for the Democratic candidates at the next public debate:
In light of Vice President Dick Cheney's recent claims that his office is not part of the executive branch of government, and in light of his refusal to cooperate in, and excusing himself from, an executive order on the handling of classified materials, do you now support Dennis Kucinich's motion to impeach the Vice President for blatant contempt of the U.S. Constitution, and if not why?
No raising hands like a 3rd grader this time.
Patriot Scholar @ 29:
No they don't. To know better, implies a sense of humility, a sense of morality, a sense of right and wrong.
These people have none of those qualities. They are simply the inhuman android product of a value system that places no value on anything other than blind ambition and blind allegiance.
If the vp office is not executive, the next time chinless claims executive priviledge it should be denied.
It's not like it's that hard to fix. All Emperor Chimpy needs to do is issue another royal proclaimation to modify the first. He can get out his crayons and scribble: "Cheney and I don't have ta foller this." across a piece of construction paper and paste it to the first one.
I read the original order. It doesn't say a damned thing about the President or VP being immune to it. Bush needs to take a lesson in Law. If the shit you write doesn't say what you want it to, then it doesn't do what you want it to. It's not a complicated thing to understand.
Again, why does Cheney hate national security so much?
Liberal AND Proud @ 32:
I think that sums it up pretty darn well!
I still say since he is not a member of the executive office, he thinks, defund his office, his staff and remove secret service protection.
Sounds like a plot for a new movie; "National Treasure 2"
Jeffrey Davis @ 1:
And helloooooo President Pelosi!
That settles it. Now cut off the funds to this rogue fourth branch. If there's any inkling of justice, it will be this.
What Cheney is up to is quite simple. Read an article where Bander Bush and the 2 billion payoff is part of a much bigger slush fund with private CIA ops being run through it. BEA gets the payoff thru pentagon. Blair killed the criminal investigation in Britain. DOJ investigating under Foreign Corrupts Service Act which we know goes nowhere. Follow the money. Cheney, Bush
"entity" - what a fitting word for the creature called Cheney...
I like Mike.
Itsn't it sad. Our entire democracy sold out for a few gold coins.
Impeach this traitor already!!! What are you waiting for? This administration is a cancer, cut it out now before it kills the U.S.
dammit stop falling for the bait!
they want impeachment!
they want us to crucify their christ!
let them slowly kill themselves!
their ilk are motivated by fear, and what beats fear is shame, not inteligence.
there needs to be so much evidence against these guys that the 28%s are shamed into not supporting him anymore.
unfortunately, impeachment will work to the democrats' detriment.
The MSM still refuses to accept some clear facts, so this will be no different.
i.e.
1)the vietnam war was not one of the most shameful events ever in this country's history
2)neither is Iraq
3)clinton's impeachment was not blatant partisan warfare
4)bush's impeachment was blatant partisan warfare/revenge for clinton
you know this is how this will play out in the media.
They tore themselves a new orifice?
cheney caves
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0607/4679.html
pinhead @ 46:
Big Deal.
When is he turning over the documents. WHEN?!?!
> Yesterday, Addington tried to create a new option, insisting that the E.O. had a provision that doesn’t exist. Maybe it was written in disappearing ink? Maybe you need special 3-D glasses to read these hidden provisions? Please.
Everyone is asking the wrong questions. Given Woody Bush's track record there is a very good reason that the EO (Ee-aye Ee-aye oh?) doesn't apply to the Loose Canon: Woody probably exempted him with a signing statement accompanying the EO.
I hate to have to say this, but technically they're right. The Vice President is not an entity of the Executive Branch. According to the Constitution, unless something happens to the President, the Vice President's only role is president of the Senate, which is a legislative function. Thomas Jefferson actually used this reasoning to assure people that there could be no possible conflict between himself and John Adams when he was elected Vice President under Adams, a President of the opposing party.
I think there will be a signing statement to the EO that will put the exemption into writing **rolls eyes**
Why doesn't Congress grow the balls to cut off 100% of Cheney's funding until he complies with the law, going all the way back to the Energy Task Force Meeting of 2001?
Seriously, I smell a great grassroots movement here.... swelling ranks of citizens emailing, faxing and call their congressional reps and demanding funding be cut from Cheney's office until.he.complies.with.the.laws.of.the.land.
Chris Rodda @ 49:
Fine. Then why did he complain when the Senate wanted his energy task force info? Hmmm...?
This argument is totally absurd (or is it "transparently silly"?).
They do not have the votes to impeach Cheney, plain and simple. it would be a huge waste of time to start impeachment hearings. It would go nowhere.
That's why people need to think outside the box of simply yelling "impeach!" Rahm Emmanuel had a good idea. It needs to be taken further. In fact, removing Cheney from office now would be 100% wrong. He needs to be kept in office--under a microscope. Everything he has said or done needs to be reviewed; every move he makes from herein forward needs to be trumpeted until the 2008 elections.
Keep him in office like you would keep a beetle in a jar . Don't think the GOP isn't angling to get someone else in the office of VP so that Cheney is not a factor in 2008. Anything brought up against Cheney, if he has left office, will be immediately decried as "ancient history" and "irrelevent" by the noise machine.
They may be trying to get Condi in the VP's office, then run her as a surprise last-minute candidate in 2008. Anyone who tries to attack Rice on her abysmal record will be branded a racist. "Why do liberal Democrats pretend they are progressive when they are racist? They only like mealy-mouthed politically correct blacks, like Jesse Jackson, or creepy blacks like Sharpton. They don't like strong, independent blacks who have their own ideas and don't follow the liberal script" (I can hear it now - it will be perfect fodder for the rightwing press and airwaves).
Keep Cheney in the office of VP as a form of political house arrest until the elections, but curtail his funding so that he is powerless.
Liberal AND Proud @ 47:
i meant to write "cheney
'caves,'" implying my skepticism and general poopooing of the possibility that anything might come of it, but hit submit in haste.an editing feature would have been a nice addition to the new comment thingy...
America needs to be sure that the V. Pres. is in a good state of sanity to perform rational thinking.
We know SCJ Rinquest was handing down decisions on psychotropis for amental disorder.
We need to be assured Cheney is mentally capable of performing his job.
Start with a drug test.
Then a mental illness exam.
If he can't pass these then he should be removed for such reasons.
I ask you,
Would a sane man who happens to be V.P. of the USA during a time of War (occupation) be playing such political games while American military are dying?
Don't you think it's awfully strange that WaPo comes out with all these Cheney revelations now? Now that we're halfway through 2007? They could have trumpeted Cheney's misdeeds from Day One.
They're doing the bidding of their corporate masters. Get Cheney out of office a year before the elections so he won't be a factor in 2008. Put someone else in office and have that person be falsely seen as "independent" of Bush. ("President Bush has nominated someone independent of him as VP - what a great guy he is!") It's a win-win. Cheney gets to have done his worst deeds .. gutted all regulatory agencies, placed hacks at all levels of govt agencies, purged the State Department and the Pentagon of dissenters, given dissenters at the CIA fair warning by outing one of their coverts as an example to them, privatized everything from war to natural disasters .... then he skedaddles out of there leaving a disasterous real government --- but a strong shadow government --- in place and absolving the GOP of any of his sins by the time November 2008 rolls around.
Somebody predicted this... I can't remember who. A few years ago, someone confidently said Cheney would be gotten rid of about a year before November 2008; that Cheney and everyone else had virtually planned it to be that way. That he would get his way with wrecking the federal government, engaging in wholesale privtization and planting his own people throughout high-security agencies. Then he'd step back and pretend to disappear, giving the GOP a clean slate.
BTDT @ 56:
I predicted it but no one ever gives me credit. :P
no, seriously, i have been saying it- it's really kinda obvious.
Good grief... I have never seen, out of this administration, or any administration in my lifetime, this kind of smoke and mirrors behavior and that's saying something.... Never has any defense of the Bush administrations actions and excuses for said action ever merited this particular one word response as it does now, to this inexcusable behavior by the VP and his office..And now, apparently with the rest of the administration doing a johnny come lately dodge of responsibility too...Attempting to draw all the wagons into a circle on it.. What's the one word... You all know it as well as I do....One word to discribe all of it...BULLSHIT!!! Now someone tell me I'm wrong... Comeon, I'm waitin....JD
and this is yet another example of how Hitler was able to deceive the german people and secretly take over germany. history is evident to those who actually attended school. but shit-for-brains had a surrogate for his schooling just like now with cheney is actually acting as president, the man behind the curtain. and like germany too many here are so stupid to recognize that history is being repeated.
está Paraguai pronta para o arbusto?
¿es Paraguay listo para el arbusto?
is the compaund secure?
sorry, i don't know the Guaraní translation...
David S. Addington is an enemy of the people. I've been trying to get people to focus on this evil bastard for years. If anyone can get this STUPID so-called lawyer before a tribunal (Congress/Senate) and let him pontificate then the whole world will see how shallow and off track this so-called lawyer is!!!
This guy needs a jail cell!!! He's a treasonist!!!
David S. Addington is an enemy of the people. I've been trying to get people to focus on this evil bastard for years. If anyone can get this STUPID so-called lawyer before a tribunal (Congress/Senate) and let him pontificate then the whole world will see how shallow and off track this so-called lawyer is!!!
This guy needs a jail cell!!! He's a treasonist!!!
David S. Addington is an enemy of the people. I've been trying to get people to focus on this evil bastard for years. If anyone can get this STUPID so-called lawyer before a tribunal (Congress or Senate) and let him pontificate then the whole world will see how shallow and off track this so-called lawyer is!!!
This guy needs a jail cell!!! He's a treasonist!!!
Hey you CIA and NSA traitors who are spying on us for your evil lord and master Cheney: When you finally see the light, you can begin to pay pennance by finally doing the People a solid for a change and [Deleted. Please do not advocate violence on this site-Sitemonitor] your evil master. Mangey dogs will piss, shit, vomit, and die on Cheney's grave for a thousand years.
All collaborators should face their comeuppance for their abetting in this six year crime. Our honor and satisfaction as free Americans DEMANDS that these criminals and robbers of our rights be punished with great vigor and diligent force sufficient to all neocons and their fellow partners in crime from our presence. Your days are numbered neocon criminals!!
How the hell these crooks got elected? Or did they really get elected? Why are we so detached? Are we really retarded people? The rest of the world is laughing at us.
IMPEACH IMPRISON and EXECUTE. That is what is suppose to happen to TAITORS. USE their request fast and no redress, find him guilty this morning and execute TONIGHT. YUP! IMPEACH, IMPRISON and EXECUTE the TRAITOR.
disgusted @ 67:
I'd drown them in ketchup.
Oh YS, I heard ranch dressing is the new ketchup.... I like em deep fried with the ranch on the side...Yum french fried tators.....heheh JD
The Bush gang comes up with a new one
What, they're going to invade Canada?
Jack Damage @ 69:
I don't even put ranch style dressing on salad.
Like Hank Hill, my idea of a vegetable is macaroni and cheese.
Ketchup is the only thing you put on fries other than malted vinegar.
Sure, impeach 'em... but realize he'll preside over his own impeachment!
RON PAUL '08 !!
suexian @ 72:
disgusted @ 67:
any dem or independent who has researched ron paul, or simply anyone who values civil liberties will not vote for him.
i'm all for liberty, but his values fall right in line with the rest of the repukes. he's a nouveau libertarian puke, which is in essence saying he's a republican wearing a different dress- and poop is poop is poop.
his defenders cite that he's called doctor no when one points at all the legislation he's voted against, but that doesn't excuse many of his policies. on foreign policy, he's got it, but most anywhere else, he's enough to make me sick, for example, voting against the ban of the slaughter of wild horses, and funding for AIDS programs, and protecting students from predatory loan programs.
what blows my mind is the things he supports when it comes to government, for example, the ludicrous and purposeless 700 mile fence between the US and mexico.
he doesn't believe that the government should regulate big corporations, so tell me how i am supposed to shed tears of joy over his supposed anti-government bedfellows beliefs?
he's also anti-reproductive choice- now tell me how therefore am i to gleefully swoon over his supposed anti-government beliefs?
you can not run a government if you don't believe in government, and ron paul does not believe in government.
we have perfectly acceptable dem candidates who believe in the constitiution and want to put a stop to war profiteering. please stop whoring ron paul.
hot potater (see link)
darn it ysbaddaden, you beat me to it (the taiter)
Login or Register to post comments.