The Bush administration is orchestrating a new PR campaign to legitimize past misconduct, hoping to legalize their illegal wire tap program during the Republican's final lame duck session in Congress.
To get the ball rolling, Vice president Dick Cheney denounced a court decision that found the NSA wiretap program unconstitutional as "an indefensible act of judicial overreaching."
US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales stepped up their strategy in a speech to Air Force Academy cadets last week.
"It's a mistake to regard such tactics as compromising freedom," he told the young officers in training.
"This view is shortsighted. Its definition of freedom - one utterly divorced from civic responsibility - is superficial and is itself a grave threat to the liberty and security of the American people."
Of course, it should surprise no one that Cheney and Gonzales are reviving their efforts to legalize a clear violation of the US Constitution. This is the administration’s last chance to get the legislation it needs to avoid indictment over the next few years.
So the new spin goes something like this.
"We believe the president has the authority under the authorization of military force and the inherent authority of the Constitution to engage in this sort of program, but we want to supplement that authority."
However it seems to me that if they already have "all the legal authority they need", it is hardly necessary to supplement it.
Of course they may run into a spot of bother if the Supreme Court decides that Congress doesn’t have the authority to legalize past violations of the Constitution. So while it's entirely possible such legislation will make its way to Bush, I believe the courts will have the final say on the matter - hopefully forcing Bush to accede to Democrats demands in Congress if he doesn't want to spend his last years in office defending his actions in court.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution.
What continues to astonish me is not that the media continues to refuse to point out this Administration’s violations of the Constitution, not that the CIA secretly tortures suspects or that the NSA listens in on our phone calls and records our emails. What astonishes me is how the President has somehow managed to have the country that suffered the worst terrorist attack in history lose the moral high ground in this so called War on Terror.
So much so that I can’t help but notice in comparison Nixon is now so highly regarded, that the US Mint is going to commemorate the new One Dollar with his image on one of the coins.
Maybe I'm the only one that remembers the President swears an oath to
"Protect the United States Constitution to the best of my ability."
Because it seems to me that violations of such an oath are clear grounds for impeachment, somewhat more so than merely lying to Congress about who gave whom head in the Oval Office. If we can't prove he lied to Congress about the reasons we went to war in Iraq, if we can no longer prosecute him for authorizing torture thanks to the McCain sponsored Torture Bill signed by Bush prior to the elections - surely violating his oath to protect the Constitution ought to be enough for impeachment.