The VP says…Keeping America Safe had nothing to do with Domestic Spying

[The Whiskey Priest]

Cheney Defends Domestic Spying
• He says Bush's decision to sidestep the courts and allow surveillance was an organized effort to regain presidential powers lost in the 1970s.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-spy21dec21,1,5224791.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true

Just keeping getting better and better...

Boiling that down to edible greens, the Prez said “screw Congress and their laws, the Executive Branch can do what it wants.”

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Oh, so spying on the Quakers and environmental groups

is NOT a domestic issue?

What's next? A Quaker - al qaeda connection? :rofl:

[unblock]

2. damn, that nixon was a FINE president! surely one to emulate!

:rofl:
:rofl:
:rofl:

[The Whiskey Priest]

4. We can thank Ford and his pardon for some of this....

If Tricky Dick had spent sometime a Federal Lockup...maybe Georgie and Dick would not be playing so fast and loose today.

[emulatorloo]

6. Cheney is all about Nixon -- see "The Long March of Dick Cheney"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/printer_112505N.shtml

A real good horrifying read if you havent seen it

<snip>


The Long March of Dick Cheney
By Sidney Blumenthal
Salon.com

Thursday 24 November 2005

For his entire career, he sought untrammeled power. The Bush presidency and 9/11 finally gave it to him - and he's not about to give it up.
The hallmark of the Dick Cheney administration is its illegitimacy. Its essential method is bypassing established lines of authority; its goal is the concentration of unaccountable presidential power. When it matters, the regular operations of the CIA, Defense Department and State Department have been sidelined.

Richard Nixon is the model, but with modifications. In the Nixon administration, the president was the prime mover, present at the creation of his own options, attentive to detail, and conscious of their consequences. In the Cheney administration, the president is volatile but passive, firm but malleable, presiding but absent. Once his complicity has been arranged, a closely held "cabal" - as Lawrence Wilkerson, once chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, calls it - wields control.

Within the White House, the office of the vice president is the strategic center. The National Security Council has been demoted to enabler and implementer. Systems of off-line operations have been laid to evade professional analysis and a responsible chain of command. Those who attempt to fulfill their duties in the old ways have been humiliated when necessary, fired, retired early or shunted aside. In their place, acolytes and careerists indistinguishable from true believers in their eagerness have been elevated.

<snip>

[The Whiskey Priest]

8. Thanks will read the entire article

I know that Cheney has been pissed at the American people and the Democrats for years.

[TheDebbieDee]

3. I think this was put out there as a distraction............

So that Democrats stop asking for a list of the names of people that were spied on.

[The Whiskey Priest]

5. I don't know why.....

But it should piss Congress off mightly...

[shance]

7. Presidential powers? Lets clarify. That would be presidential "abuse"

n/t

[The Whiskey Priest]

10. In part I agree.....but I think a more accurate clarification would be

to substitute "King" for "president."

[chat_noir]

9. poll on that page

Was President Bush within his rights to authorize domestic spying without court approval?

Yes. This is a crucial tool in the fight against terrorism. 20.2%
(888 responses)


No. The president's order violates Americans' rights. 79.8%
(3507 responses)

4395 total responses


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-spy21dec21,1,5224791.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true

[The Whiskey Priest]

11. Did not notice the poll

Thanks