This is a difficult subject to talk about. Americans are happy if they're not paying attention or "not satisfied" with the direction of the country. But no matter how they feel when you talk to them they probably all take for granted that the state of the country is just a little or moderately off and will soon be back on track.
Seven years ago a Turkish friend of mine said that America would have a civil war within 20 years. I was shocked that she would say this. I tried to convince her that the checks and balances built into our system would prevent that from happening.
What I couldn't anticipate is a situation that would lead to such a bitter division that existed for so long. We're not so divided now but there are still forces out there trying to tear us apart so that they can take over. Now, it scares me to think how close we came to being taken over. Even though it feels like the tide is changing, we're not out of the woods yet.
We are in Constitutional Crisis now; the Constitutional Confrontation is yet to come.
On Monday I posted a diary that got very little traction but I want to try again to present a perspective that I think is missing not only from the msm which we expect to miss the big picture but from the blogosphere in general.
I want to tie this all together in the public consciousness. Comey's testimony helped but we need to do more and talk about it as part of our everyday conversation. Help me bring all the scandals, near-scandals and just plain lawlessness of this administration and Republicans in power into perspective for all to absorb and make a part of their world view.
The Plan
We know the neocons had a goal and a plan. How did they intend to carry out their goal of a permanant Republican majority? Funny phrase in hindsight; I thought it was bluster. Little did I know what they really had in mind. I'm blown away by the audacity and the callousness. They didn't care what the consequences would be; they just wanted to take as much as they could.
Financing the attempt
dengre does a fantastic job of showing how they planned to finance the attempt to install or elect their soldiers into national and local governments within the context of One-Party-Rule. If you haven't read this diary then do; it's worth it to help understand their plan.
Stolen Elections
We didn't see their hand in the cookie jar but they've got crumbs all over their face. As my good friend clammyc says, they're messing with our elections. Taken as individual events they stand out but taken as a whole questioning that they've stolen elections is like questioning that the earth is round. clammyc cut to the heart with this
But what if the American public is presented with not just these statistics, general allegations, anecdotal stories of vote flipping or easily hackable voting machines and other first or second hand accounts of experiences by voters on election day, but also specific examples of a massive effort conducted by the highest levels of the Bush administration with tacit approval by the republican Congressional majority that the entire election system was being gamed from the inside?
That gives me goose bumps. If that enters the heads of the general public then it's game, set, match.
Dept of Justice Takeover
Comey's testimony made it clear that the Bush administration was trying to take over the government - illegally if they had to. As wmtraillawyer said so well
It was a deliberate usurping of our Department of Justice by the Presidency. It was an attempt to illegally seize the reins of government to circumvent the Constitution and deliberately trample on the Bill of Rights.
Domestic Spying
We also had the domestic spying program and don't really need to wonder about the validity of that. Comey has blown this right out of the water with testimony that is right out of James Bond. This will be a movie someday.
Glenn Greenwald does his usual beautiful job of showing the way.
The real value in the program is to serve as a reminder for just how little we know about what our government is doing in spying on our domestic activities and communications and the data it is collecting. In particular, it is striking how little we still know about the NSA's actions as it relates to the revelation that the Bush administration has been violating the law by eavesdropping on our telephone conversations in secret and without any judicial oversight.
One of the increasingly inexcusable lapses of the Democratic Congress thus far has been its apparent lack of interest in undertaking a real investigation into how the Bush administration used its NSA warrantless surveillance powers during the five years when it was eavesdropping on Americans in secret and illegally -- on whose conversations did they eavesdrop, how were the targets selected, what was done with the data they collected reflecting the contents of those conversations, what was the actual scope of the surveillance, what role did telecommunications companies play in enabling that illegal spying?
From The Center For American Progress
Shocking Lawlessness
In March 2004, President Bush's warrantless domestic spying program was temporarily suspended after then-acting Attorney General James Comey refused to sign onto an extension of the program, citing an "extensive review" by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, stating "that the program did not comply with the law." In "gripping testimony" yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Comey revealed extraordinary details about the efforts made by Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card -- then-White House counsel and chief of staff, respectively -- to persuade John Ashcroft to overrule Comey, even as Ashcroft was debilitated in an intensive care unit with pancreatitis. The Washington Post calls Comey's "account of Bush administration lawlessness so shocking it would have been unbelievable coming from a less reputable source." Indeed, Comey's revelations confirm the worst fears about Gonzales's dangerously flawed judgment, and provide further evidence of the administration's -- including the President's -- contempt for basic legal restraints.
Read the whole article; you won't be sorry.
Signing Statements
There were nearly 1000 signing statements that were not simple statements to assure that everyone understood the intent of the law being passed. These signing statements were meant to replace the intent and actually used to create new law.
Pretty slick when you think about it. They couldn't enter the bills themselves but they could modify what came out. It's like ordering a couch and going back to the store in broad daylight and taking a complete living room set.
The Emperor Has No Clothes
During this discussion it's important to keep in mind that one-party-rule doesn't tell you all you need to know about the Republicans. They would have us think that they've done nothing wrong and that everything they've accomplished has been done so legally and therefore that makes it "right". we now know that's simply another lie among many. This was not politics as usual this was a blatant coup attempt.
It's true that it's different than how we normally think of a coup but it is one. Their actions and intent was to take control thru any means possible. First they would make some attempt at making it look legal but relied on prevarications far more egregious than "depends on what you definition of 'is' is". When that didn't work they lied. After that they would just do what they needed to do regardless of the legality and regardless of how slimy it was.
Let's Change The Conversation
Our media and national conversation across the board is that Republicans accomplished their ascendency legally and that it's not big deal. We all know that is not the case and pretending that it is in the face of facts is one of the most aggravating aspects of this. This was not politics as usual. We should not just say "Good race. Better luck next time" as if we've just ridden a hard bicycle race and we're sitting around telling stories about it and talking about how much fun it was.
Even today look at CNN's story on Leahy's supoena of Rove's emails.
The president can legally replace U.S. attorneys but usually does so at the start of a term of office. The midterm firings sparked accusations that some of the dismissals were politically motivated.
Well, that's not bad is it? It's just politics. Just think, someone actually gets paid to write this dribble.
If there was no doubt about the takeover being simply a matter of hard work and principle then we'd have to just take our lumps. We'd have to just build our own infrastruture and organizations to compete with the Right in head-to-head competition as it is meant to be played. But it wasn't that; it was outright cheating. It was like stealing money from the Monopoly bank when you don't have money to pay for Park Place but with infinitely worse consequences. The very soul of America was at risk and people died. That's a pretty big deal.
Here's what they did:
- Stole the 2000 Presidency and possibly the 2004
- Consequently was able to establish control of the Supreme Court
- Attempted to take over the Dept of Justice by replacing USAs with their soldiers
- Domestic spying. Who did they spy on? I'm guessing that it wasn't terrorists.
- Subverted the Legislature by making law or ignoring laws with signing statements.
When you look at it this way the results of the 2006 look critical to uncovering this. Can you imagine where we'd be if Democrats hadn't taken control of the House and exposed the USA takeover?
[Update I] Thur May 17, 2007 at 07:18 am PDT
MrHinkyDink reminded me below of one of the most important issues: the cancellation of habeus corpus. The good news about being having control is that I think now Congress is in the process of reversing that one.
[Update II] Thur May 17, 2007 at 11:12 am PDT
I wanted to clarify my statements about civil war. It was called into question and I realized that I slid from one point to the other and didn't do it very well. I don't believe we are headed to civil war and don't believe we got close. I do believe that an attempt is being made to take over the country and part of that attempt has been to divide us. What worked was the division but that didn't lead to a civil war. In fact, I think it's made us stronger even though there are still battles to be fought.
I've changed the text in the heading in an attempt to fix the misconception I put out there.