Bush and Accountability
 

An excellent response to my post on President Bush's interview with Jim Lehrer suggested that Bush is very uncomfortable with accountability.

John Dean's book Worse Than Watergate is subtitled The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush. Dean says that the Bush team, "once ensconced in their offics at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, quietly closed their doors, pulled the shades, and began making themselves increasingly inaccessible to the media and Congress while demanding complete control over government information. Government under a virtual gag order became their standard operating procedure."

Dean points out that "Presidential secrecy has been closely asociated with the role of commander in chief." And, indeed, the president's lawyers have maintained that the comander in chief has the "Inherent" authority to act in the interest of national security, even if he overrides the law.

Three years ago, then-Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft asserted that the president could order wiretapping: "The Constitution vests in the president inherent authority to conduct warrantless intelligence surveillance [electronic or otherwise] of foreign powers or their agents, and Congress cannot by statute extinguish that constitutional authority."

My question: where is this authority in the Constitution? I remember Richard Nixon claiming, in an interview with David Frost, that "if the president does it, it's legal."

Isn't such a viewpoint exactly why Nixon had to resign under threat of impeachment and conviction?

Even more troubling to me, was the president's assertion in his radio speech yesterday, that both the congress and the media have put our lives in danger:

"A minority of senators filibustered to block the renewal of the Patriot Act when it came up for a vote yestereday. That decision is irresponsible, and its endangers the lives of our citizens."

"Yesterday the existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports, after being improperly provided to new organizations. As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unautorhized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at tisk. Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies and endangers our country."

I'm not sure if the president sounds more like Richard Nixon or Saddam Hussein. Neither is a flattering comparison. The administration has taken an exceedlingly disturbing operational and rhetorical path in the past few weeks.

Re: Bush and Accountability
 

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The administration has taken an exceedlingly disturbing operational and rhetorical path in the past few weeks.

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It's weird...I had been thinking the opposite. For the first time in forever he took unscreened questions from an audience, and answered with what I thought was frankness.

But then...there's that whole attacking the NYT silliness. I guess, since I've stopped expecting much of anything from government in general, I've stopped expecting anything from the leaders of governments. It's somewhat pleasant, actually...you get used to the failures and are pleasantly surprised by the successes.

Will

Re: Bush and Accountability
 

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As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unautorhized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk. Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies and endangers our country."


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Does this include revealing the identity of CIA field agents?

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Re: Bush and Accountability
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unautorhized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk. Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies and endangers our country."


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Does this include revealing the identity of CIA field agents?

[img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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...Only if it's in the best interest of his current political agenda.

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