HAGEL: I don't believe, from what I've heard, but I'm going to give the administration an opportunity to explain it, that he has the authority now to do what he's doing. Now, maybe he can convince me otherwise, but that's OK. STEPHANOPOULOS: But not yet. HAGEL: Not yet. But that's OK. If he needs more authority, he just can't unilaterally decide that that 1978 law is out of date and he will be the guardian of America and he will violate that law. He needs to come back, work with us, work with the courts if he has to, and we will do what we need to do to protect the civil liberties of this country and the national security of this country.
HAGEL: I don't believe, from what I've heard, but I'm going to give the administration an opportunity to explain it, that he has the authority now to do what he's doing. Now, maybe he can convince me otherwise, but that's OK.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But not yet.
HAGEL: Not yet. But that's OK. If he needs more authority, he just can't unilaterally decide that that 1978 law is out of date and he will be the guardian of America and he will violate that law. He needs to come back, work with us, work with the courts if he has to, and we will do what we need to do to protect the civil liberties of this country and the national security of this country.
More Chuck Hagel:
Appeared on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" Sunday, Hagel took exception to Karl Rover's recent assertion that: "Republicans have a post-9/11 view of the world. And Democrats have a pre-9/11 view of the world." "Well, I didn't like what Mr. Rove said, because it frames terrorism and the issue of terrorism and everything that goes with it, whether it's the renewal of the Patriot Act or the NSA wiretapping, in a political context," said Hagel.
Appeared on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" Sunday, Hagel took exception to Karl Rover's recent assertion that: "Republicans have a post-9/11 view of the world. And Democrats have a pre-9/11 view of the world."
"Well, I didn't like what Mr. Rove said, because it frames terrorism and the issue of terrorism and everything that goes with it, whether it's the renewal of the Patriot Act or the NSA wiretapping, in a political context," said Hagel.
And after you read those ten questions by Greenwald, tell me where else but in the blogs could we wonk out to those levels? Just because I personally don't wonk out doesn't mean that there isn't some serious wonking taking place.
This Cult of Cheney believed in one main thing -- presidential power was the guiding force, and the Nixon Administration's level of power and secrecy was their polestar. What stood in their way? A group of folks at all levels of government who took their oath to serve the Constitution more seriously than their need to kiss Cheney's butt to climb the political power ladder. If the Senate Judiciary Committee wants an all-star witness list of patriots who were there at the time that all of these end-run around the Constitution and the law decisions were being made at the DoJ, at the White House and in the VP's offices, look no further than James Comey. And add to that list Jack Goldsmith, now a professor at Harvard Law, but former head of the OLC. And apparently a long list of Republican appointees who were willing to risk the wrath of Cheney to defend the Constitution -- the majority of whom have been cashiered out of the Administration.
This Cult of Cheney believed in one main thing -- presidential power was the guiding force, and the Nixon Administration's level of power and secrecy was their polestar.
What stood in their way? A group of folks at all levels of government who took their oath to serve the Constitution more seriously than their need to kiss Cheney's butt to climb the political power ladder.
If the Senate Judiciary Committee wants an all-star witness list of patriots who were there at the time that all of these end-run around the Constitution and the law decisions were being made at the DoJ, at the White House and in the VP's offices, look no further than James Comey. And add to that list Jack Goldsmith, now a professor at Harvard Law, but former head of the OLC. And apparently a long list of Republican appointees who were willing to risk the wrath of Cheney to defend the Constitution -- the majority of whom have been cashiered out of the Administration.