As the felafel guy over at Fox once said:
"I don't know what that means!!"
Empty Wheel reported on Friday that Vice President Joe Biden used a copy of the U.S. Constitution to swear in Brennan -- written in 1787 -- before the Bill of Rights was added to it four years later.
From the White House:
"Vice President Joe Biden swears in CIA Director John Brennan in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, March 8, 2013. Members of Brennan’s family stand with him. Brennan was sworn in with his hand on an original draft of the Constitution, dating from 1787, which has George Washington’s personal handwriting and annotations on it."
That means`essentially, when the new CIA Director took his vow, the Fourth, Fifth, or Sixth Amendments were not included, and neither were any of the other Amendments, together, commonly known as the "Bill of Rights" now included in our Constitution. It wasn't until 1791 that The Bill of Rights had become part of our Constitution -- four years after the Constitution was printed that Brennan took his oath on.
More Marcy:
I really don’t mean to be an asshole about this. But these vows always carry a great deal of symbolism. And whether he meant to invoke this symbolism or not, the moment at which Brennan took over the CIA happened to exclude (in symbolic form, though presumably not legally) the key limits on governmental power that protect American citizens.
More from the White House after the swearing in ceremony:
“There’s one piece of this that I wanted to note for you,” spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters gathered for their daily briefing. “Director Brennan was sworn in with his hand on an original draft of the Constitution that had George Washington’s personal handwriting and annotations on it, dating from 1787. Director Brennan told the president that he made the request to the archives because he wanted to reaffirm his commitment to the rule of law as he took the oath of office as director of the CIA,” Earnest said.
This is probably the historic copy Brennan was shootin' for:
George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress Correspondence with Marginal Notes by George Washington, September 12, 1787
Listen, I don't know what to draw from this -- except for the fact that the Obama White House is sometimes lacking the skills for Optics game.
And Marcy is right above when she says that anytime someone is sworn into office; the symbolism is everything. Remember, in 2009, President Obama had to take the oath of office over because Chief Justice John Roberts screwed it up. In addition, Marcy may have been right about the legality of it.
I mean technically how can he take office not having sworn and attested to the greatest example of enumerated rights in the world. Without the Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution is mostly just a technocratic blueprint.
Just sayin'