Bush Signing Statement Challenges Congress' Oversight Role
Charlie Savage, who won a Pulitzer for breaking this story and is the author of our current C&L Book of the Month, brings us more. Bush had already used signing statements to "allow him to bypass more than 1,100 laws" before this latest one:
President Bush this month issued his first signing statement since the Democratic takeover of Congress, reserving the right to bypass 11 provisions in a military appropriations bill under his executive powers.
In the statement, which the White House filed in the Federal Register on Nov. 13 but which initially attracted little attention, Bush challenged several requirements to provide information to Congress. ...(read on)
Bush: "If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator,"
asshole
Time to kick this thieving, lying, cheating sonofabitch outta the White House...
busk fush!
[Deleted-Sitemonitor]
Gawd daaaaayum! I hates me some Georgie Bush!
So, Ms. Pelosi, why is this criminal still in office?
Chimpeach this fuckwad already!
Cheney first...THEN the chimp!
Pelosi, get off your ass. Impeachment is too good for The Dummy, but do it anyway, for starters.
Impeach ,if he wants to legislate join the house or senate.If he was a private corp. manager,he would have been shown the door for his inability to proform his duties then trying to convince the board they don't know what their talking about.The boy is in over his head.WTF?
Savour sweetly these moments when you can call GWB what you like. Sounds like it's going to end very soon.
"Fuck you congress"- Bush.
Let's bring this pimple to a head. It's finally time to lance this hemorrhoid of a President.
Someone needs to file a motion with the Supreme Court, is it the Senate Judiciary Committee, the ACLU, I don't know...but it's time...bring this to the Supreme Court...and lets finally find out if the Constitution really exists anymore.
Enough is enough.
Where do you people get off telling the king what he can and cant do?!? Dont you know how many people serve at his pleasure? Its not like theres some sort of agreement between the people that King Bush must adhere to!
This "person" in the White House is a useless turd. He's been a useless turd since his Daddy bought his way into college, business AND the Presidency.
I've watched for twenty+ years as Republican Presidents and Congresses have run roughshod over the people, the Constitution, minorities, immigrants and anyone else that wasn't either a business or political crony or big dollar contributor.
All to culminate with the "election" of possibly the most unqualified, narcissistic, IMBECILE to ever hold public office.
If there is any justice left in the world. Both the Chimp and that despicable swine of a human being, Darth Cheney would wind up in irons in front of a world court judge.
Fuck them all. They should be marching through the WH doors, cuffing and arresting this dangerous asshole right now.
Fuck impeachment. Arrest his ass immediately.
WTF kind of government are we running here?
All The Dummy has to do is pout, stamp his feet, whine 'I don wanna do dis'
and he gets to break any and all the laws he wants to?!
As I said before, WTF!!!!!
John @ 6:
She's probably a criminal too. There's no other explanation.
Funny watching the media squirm trying to spin the new revelation by the released Intelligence report , that IRAN SUSPENDED it's weapons program in 02 .
First chubby cheek Ed Henry emphatically said " IT'S A MIXED BAG " . WHY is it a mixed bag, because the White House still " fears" they want to develop nukes . So because they 'fear" something that MIGHT happen , and they have NO proof now , it's a fricken " Mixed bag" .
An idiot can see through CNN's propganda , and whoa FOX reporter said guess WHAT ?
The same Fricken words this morning , standing in front of the WH , ' a MIXED bag " .
Madam Karma will visit him and bring all his crimes back for him to face someday.
This is amazing. I literally count the days before awful hateful stain leaves office.With all the horrible and costly mistakes he has made the fool still thinks he knows best for the nation. He is so angry and spiteful that he does'nt care what crap he leaves us to clean up. I will never dicuss politics with anyone who voted for this minstrel twice.
Kahoneez @ 20:
To paraphrase, "Iran is not dangerous, but they are still very, very scary."
Judgement Day is coming...they might not like what it's gonna say...Judgement Day is coming...the holy hypocrites are gonna pay...
-Wackiavelli
kahoneez@20, they've had their unexceptional little tallywhackers pointed and ready for premature ejaculation all over Iran since October. Who are we to deny them their long anticipated splort?
Weaseldog @ 23:
George Bush is dangerous and scary. He's a terrorist with WMDs.
What a total asshole. Sociopath really. Republican really.
Yes, Republican--say it all.
Hugo Chavez holds elections when he wants to push his agenda. Bush simply issues a signing statement.
Who's the dick-tater?
-GSD
If you ask me the 'mixed bag' is what exists in this country as political parties and a political process... A mixed bag of of your garden variety of nuts, greed mongering egotists, wannabe fascists, closeted gays, and con artists.... Bush's perversion of the so-called signing statements protocol just reveals yet another thing that will need to be either eliminated entirely or reformed drastically by way of spelling out in specific detail just what the intent and design of that protocol should be after this trainwreck of an administration is out of power..
And yes, I agree that removal from power at this point should not be at the ballot box but rather at the end of an indictment, shackles and armed federal agents removing them all from the WH..... And whether it succeeds or not, impeachment at this point is a requirement, not an option to be removed from some hypothetical table. This was all pointed out in a well delivered post late last week.
I wish I could remember the posters name but it was a definative reasoning on why impeachment is both a necessary and desirabe action that Pelosi and the others need to take, whether it succeeds or not. Someone has to GOT to go on record against this administration 'legally' for the future welfare of our nation and its political system. That's the shortest version without detail of what I read last week. And this poster was dead on in his or her understanding and reasoning about it.....JD
Left&Left @ 22:
...which is why at this point both he and cheney clearly should be under arrest. Impeachment is too civilized for what they've done and plan to do. In this regard Pelosi is right, impeachment off the table because their crimes merit full arrest at this stage.
Bush screws the country anytime he wants and laughs because he is president for only the shining rich in the city on the hill. Americans have to understand they have been branded and castrated. Its over. Two stolen elections and strong propaganda cable stations say that america has been tricked badly like a cheap whore. Bush and Cheney are brilliant in an evil and self-serving way. Its Over.
If ever I saw a human that deserves to be caged like the animal he acts like, it is GWB. You know the pitiful part is, he was never elected to office legally, but we have had to put up with his bullshit all the time he has been our "leader". (I hate to put that title on him because he never earned it - hells bells - he hasn't ever earned anything worthwhile in his life.)
True, Bush was first appointed as President of the United State, by the Supreme Court.
I'm not aware of a Constitutional Amendment that gives them the power to appoint presidents.
So his first four years started out as an insult to the US Constitution.
Google EndGame and/or The Bildeberg Group. They talk about the UN as the police force in the New World Order. One of Jr's signing statements was to ignore having to inform Congress when they transfer our military equipment to the UN peacekeepers. They are really doing it!
oops- sorry. The spelling is Bilderberg Group.
LIBERTY @ 4:
your a dufus if you think that....he is still a repuke
This is one of my favourite Bush clips of all time.
To think he did this BEFORE he was elected (stole) the 1st Election in 2000 is incredible.
How he even came to be nominated as the Republican Candidate is beyond me.
What a total **** this man is.
Here's the thing.
Bush is deciding on his own merit that Congress needs to have no roll in oversight.
Bush is also deciding on his own merit that certain sections of the Constitution are irrelevant.
But if we're just going to ignore the Constitution, then Bush has no power at all. The only thing that puts him in that cushy office making over 400k a year is that piece of paper our ancestors signed all those years ago that was effectively a written framework for just governance over the new republic. The Constitution ( in other words The Law ) is what has inherent authority here and if we're tossing that then George W. Bush is just some C grade failed businessman that is grabbing up power.
Everybody, including the Congress AND the military should be up in arms about this. The Congress and the military should be in particular because every damned one of them took an oath to defend The Constitution, not George W. Bush, from all enemies foreign and domestic. If Bush is just going to toss his dick around like it means something and violate the Constitution then he IS the enemy and he damn well sure doesn't belong in office he belongs in a prison cell.
To quote Apollo on BSG:
"I swore an oath. To defend the articles. The articles say there is an election in seven months. Now, if you are telling me we are throwing out the law, then I am not a captain, you are not a commander, and you are not the president. And I don't owe either of you a damned explanation for anything."
navydavy @ 36:
So what? Most of the candidates are neocons. I don't see that he is. I prefer Dennis Kucinich, but I believe that neither will survive the primaries. It is more likely that a hawk from each party will be on the ballot.
Are you so devoted to Party that you'd vote for more war and more insults to the US Constitution, so long as your party wins?
Weaseldog, trust RP's voting record. He's a puke with a twin growing out of his side.
crazytown @ 40:
I understand. I'm also not worried about him surviving the primaries. the two that survive will be 100X worse than him.
Ron Paul, another of nature's oddities. (I mean, look at him. 'Ya can't hide that latexed repug look can you? The face, the hair, the eyes)
Weaseldog @ 41:
Yeah. I know. He's not even worth discussing. Word economy and all that considering other much more important things (understatement).
crazytown @ 43:
For a scary thought experiment, say a Democratic Candidate wins. Pick any you like. We're neck deep in war in Iran and Iraq after Bush bombed them six months prior. We're losing troops at an accelerated rate.
What would you favorite candidate do? Surrender? Withdraw? Re-enact the draft?
What will be the Right Wing Spin?
I like the candidates better if I imagine them coming into office during peace time. But if I imagine them entering office right after Bush start WWIII, most of them worry me.
I copied and pasted this article on the comment page of my Congressman, Chris Murphy, from CT. He's very good about getting back to me about specific items, not just a form letter. I can't wait to see what he says to the question " Can we impeach him now? Is it still off the table? Why?"
mister mix @ 12:
"Thank you, and please fuck us again"--Congress
The thing that pisses me off the most is that W is the first to throw rocks (in his stone house) at other supposed tyrants. W can't wait to take shots at leaders such as Chavez (not that I support Chavez) for making up the rules as he goes. What is the difference between the behavior of Chavez, as compared to "the decider"?
LIBERTY @ 4:
One man can open the floodgates for total corporate power:
Ron Paul!!!! just in time for the planet's environmental crisis!
I'm confident that this savior (no government, no spending) with an immaculate voting record can finish the job that Bush (small government, big spending) started.
Bush and the republicans trash our government, libertarian-neocons stick it in the landfill.
What an asshole! He also flipped off the press in the White House a couple of years ago. His press liar tried to spin that he was doing a thumbs up sign to the press, as if he has his thumb in the middle of his hand. This is our "Command in Chief" indeed. Actually, he is Commander in chief to the Armed Forces, not the American public, as he so believes he is. It is long past time for his impeachment, along with Asshole #2, Dick Cheney.
If Congress had a spine, they'd rise up and show this mofo what the fuck OVERSIGHT is.
Gino @ 47:
I DO support Chavez. Venezuela has more direct democracy than the U.S. Chavez has been overwhelmingly re-elected by the popular vote, in credible elections. This current vote had something like 69 referendum, his position barely lost, and he gracefully accepted the vote. The media there are controlled by the racist & elitist few, and he does not censor them. One of the referenda had to do with not limiting his term to two, like our Congress and PMs around the world, and like our presidency until FDR.
But you're not going to read that in our media.
American media: Chavez bad
Gino @ 47:
Well, having an actual economy for openers.
Gino @ 47:
The difference is Bush uses executive-military power to give more to the rich, Chavez uses executive-military power to give more to the poor. And Chavez does it within the framework of their laws.
Congress should go to the White House and whip that son of a bitch's ass.
So what's so shocking about this, he has been doing the same thing since the presidency was Given to him AGAINST the power of the peoples vote.
Look up NSPD-51 and read all about it. He has given himself the right to suspend the constitution and elections in the event of a threat to the "Continuation of Government" the way it is written, if a disaster, another of those unexplained WTC #5 imploding building things, or earthquake, Katrina, whatever "HE" decides
and he'll just take over. As he said a dictatorship would be much easier now he's going to prove it... Let's vot'em all out and start all over with a new House & Senate, just keep the secretaries they're the ones who relly know what's going on.
With the rest of today's C&L lineup, rethugs either have blood on their hands or shit on their dicks. Not much else is happening.
A congress that does not impeach is complicit of the crime.
Next term.
I'll vote any party other than Democrat or Republican.
Weaseldog @ 44:
Firstly we can trust Kucinich, then Biden and Dodd. All we have to do is Flip The List of those candidates who're nothing more than pre-packaged meat FOR us.
Kucinich would bring them home, fast. Biden & Dodd more systematic. All would quit treating the troops like bar rags and give them the dignity they reserve.
As for republican spin. Those fucks slathered in their own excrement? Let them spin themselves straight into hell, this time we don't have to go with them.
The courts have already said his "signing statements" aren't legal. So just add that to the impeachable offenses he hasn't been tried for. And by the way we all know he better watch out for that blow job...cause that's the one that will get him.
crazytown@58, my own entry, forgot to add Weaseldog's draft question:
Biden & Dodd I suspect would create a draft, not Kucinich. There's the little matter of Blackwater and about 4 or 5 other mercenaries over there behaving badly.
I think we are definitely being set up for a draft, or SOMETHING to clean up over there.
Biden is a realist as is Dodd, and they've not said enough about that. Biden has heartbreak about the troop's plight that is palpable, and don't think he would make such a decision without laying it all out there for deep ponderance. Dodd, I just don't know but trust his instincts about alot...just not on this topic.
Kucinich would end the bloodsheld. There would be no draft, and that' s that.
Related to all this is the prospect of WHICH dem gets the WH. If that dem is a political hermaphrodite like Hillary she can do a hell of a lot of damage and will run in 2012 WITHOUT progressive competition.
If this supermarketing of HC works, and she wins, she will not make it past one term, guaranteed. We're fucked either way.
That's why we have to push Kucinich past the spin as furiously and outrageously as possible.
Of course, 2008 is probably another setup and a steal anyway.
California's bid for a free popular election just got vetoed by Arnie, the guy who speaks with a giant snot in his throat (whose daddy was a fucking Nazi). They'll hold another stealth quiet vote next June, and few will come.
"Impeach. Prosecute. Save America!" - Naomi Wolf
I don't know why people make a big deal out of the signing statements. They are not law and cannot be law. They are just post-it notes by W to himself. They are completely unenforcable.
Again: THEY ARE NOT LAW. THEY CANNOT BE LAW.
All I want for Christmas is impeachment.
Just a little more than a year left of dick tater.
hadenuf @ 46:
"And never mind the K-Y"--Congress
Why the hell haven't these signing statements been challenged in court? The Constitution grants no president the right to issue them. the have zero basis in Constitutional legality.
unitary executive theorists think "God" gave them the right to rule over the other 2 branches of government. rapture bunny-Francoist complex on the march
He should do it, because if they wanted to kick this bastard in his ass, they would take Impeachment off the table and be honest and truthful when they continue to shell out all this money to his lying ass.
Stop funding this bitch and you will get some traction out of this fight. Don't allow him to pull this shit on you, time after time and get away with it.
You are not supporting the troops when you continue funding their death.
The signing statements alone should brand Bush as the sole president in American history who had no respect for check and balances. His legacy should be one in which he really did try and make the president an elected monarch with the ability to ignore the law with signing statements.
Paul @ 68:
It's because no one has the guts to challege our Imperator.
Paul @ 68:
Tell me you didn't fall for the "we're appointing judges who are strick constructionists and will overturn Roe v Wade", crap did you? They have been rigging the system since Nixon.
How far does someone have to go before people get the balls to demand impeachment. It's disgusting.
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