Bush in ‘ceaseless push for power’

[Stockholm]

:nopity:

President George W. Bush had shown disdain and indifference for the US constitution by adopting an “astonishingly broad” view of presidential powers, a leading libertarian think-tank said on Monday.

The critique from the Cato Institute reflects growing criticism by conservatives about administration policy in areas such as the “war on terror” and undermining congressional power.

“The pattern that emerges is one of a ceaseless push for power, unchecked by either the courts or Congress, one in short of disdain for constitutional limits,” the report by legal scholars Gene Healy and Timothy Lynch concludes.

That view was echoed last week by former congressman Bob Barr, a Republican, who called on Congress to exercise “leadership by putting the constitution above party politics and insisting on the facts” in the debate over illegal domestic wiretapping of terrorist suspects.

more http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6ec15f3c-d93d-11da-8b06-0000779e2340.html

[greekspeak]

1. Good luck...it is far easier to act as a rubber stamp than to do something

As long as the corporations and the Christo-fascists aren't offended, repukes in congress or any place else in the Washington establishment will not act. When King Georgie hurts one or the other of these groups, and the Pukes' sponsors stick the electic cattle prod of cash in their rears, THEN you will see action. Otherwise, don't hold your breath. Anything said is rhetoric.

[aquart]

2. And if a Democratic President accepts the precedent?

[izzie]

3. Wish a lot of people would read that one.

Funny the church nuts do not see it this way. One would almost think they are really bad Americans.

[LiberalPartisan]

4. They need their 'strong father'.....n/t

[lwcon]

5. Things to come?

I just clicked a link I've used before to read the Constitution on the National Archives site and got a "File Not Found" error.

I guess they were just reclassifying it to be only, as Condi says, "an historical document."

I couldn't find the place where it says that Congress has to do everything the President asks (as long as they're either in the same party or named "Joe Lieberman"), no matter how corrupt or ill-conceived. Are there any Constitutional scholars here who can set me straight on this?

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