progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital
Earlier today at TBA in a session titled Curbing the Imperial Presidency, Bob Fertik asked panelist Joe Conason about the possibility of impeaching the president. Joe responded that bringing up the impeachment of either the president or the vice president would be a mistake politically, but that it would be appropriate to look at impeaching the AG.
I hear Joe Conason’s sentiment expressed fairly often. Since he’s a very bright guy I’m surprised he doesn’t see the implications of his statement. If impeachment is not there as an option, there’s no mechanism to hold the Executive branch accountable. In most administrations the idea of appearing to be defying the law would be such a significant check that this alone would prevent an executive and his advisors from openly breaking laws passed by Congress.
As it turns out, this isn’t most administrations.
As Think Progress notes:
Federal agencies ignored 30 percent of the laws Bush objected to in signing statements last year, according to a report released today by the Government Accountability Office. In 2006, President Bush issued signing statements for 11 out of the 12 appropriations bills passed by Congress, claiming a right to bypass a total of 160 provisions in them.
The president, as head of the Executive branch, directs heads of the agencies to follow his signing statements rather than the laws as passed by Congress. Agency heads have the choice of obeying the president, or obeying the law, in which case they might lose their jobs.
And, what exactly is Congress’ remedy for this? Passing more laws? I think you can see the problem.
Aside from impeachment, the only option is expressing public disdain for the president’s actions, and hope that the accumulation of disdain results in the president turning over a new leaf. Quantum mechanically, that’s discribed as a zero probability event.
Part of my concern here is that when Joe Conason dismisses Bob Fertik in a forum like this, he’s telling him to sit down, be quiet, and keep his hands folded in his lap. The president is not accountable, and those who would like to see accountability should get over it.
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hip·po·pot·a·mus n. A notion, perhaps distinct from conventional wisdom, that needs to be verified by reality-based scrutiny.
95. Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)
— Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
The best way to make sense of this legal tangle is to mouse over the title of an individual scandal, which will highlight everyone implicated. [Link]
A 22-year-old bicyclist was struck by a garbage truck and killed just north of Dupont Circle today, authorities said. Police and fire vehicles converged on the scene at 20th and R streets NW, snarling Connecticut Avenue traffic during the morning rush. [Link]
We're asking you to put some of the money you plan to give Obama "in escrow" until he demonstrates progressive leadership on the issues we care about, like warrantless wiretapping. [Link]
The report notes that the administration has gone to “unprecedented lengths to control and suppress information about the human cost” of the wars. [Link]
"We see a tipping point occurring right before our eyes," Hansen said during his appearance at the National Press Club. "The Arctic is the first tipping point and it's occurring exactly the way we said it would." [Link]
It appeared to confirm for the first time in an official examination many of the allegations from critics who charged that the Justice Department had become overly politicized during the Bush administration. [Link]
"After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be ans [Link]
It gives me a terrible mental image of the whole country linking arms and goose-stepping in unison, with the politicians out in front doing a straight-armed salute. [Link]
BOULTON: There are those who would say look, lets take Guantanamo Bay, and Abu Ghraib, and rendition and all those things and to them that is the complete opposite of freedom. BUSH: Of course, if you want to slander America. [Link]
In a subsequent e-mail to the employee, Cargol described himself as “a rub-your-belly, grab-your-balls, give-you-a-hug, slap-your-back, pull-your-dick, squeeze-your-hand, cheek-your-face, and pat-your-thigh kind of guy.” [Link]
Democracy Now! Radio and TV News [Link]
Let's take a look at how the Los Angeles Times covered the new Senate Intelligence Committee report on the claims made as part of selling the Iraq war, and compare it to how the editorial page of the Washington Post, by which I mean Fred Hiatt, sees the e [Link]
Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a new memoir that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated "political propaganda campaign" led by President Bush and aimed at "manipulating sources of public opinion" an [Link]
Hertzberg's analysis is noteworthy because he appears to be able to allow several ideas to coexist in his head simultaneously, which quite an achievement these days. [Link]
That night, George Stephanopoulos, who was then a top aide to Mr. Clinton, declared that it was “mathematically impossible for Brown to get the nomination” — the start of a campaign to declare Mr. Clinton the presumed nominee, even as several other [Link]
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