The Bush gang comes up with a new one

June 27, 2007

So, the Vice President exempted himself from an executive order on the handling of classified materials. To rationalize the decision, Dick Cheney and the White House want people to believe that the Vice President is not part of the executive branch of government. No one, anywhere, is buying it.

Yesterday, Cheney’s lawyers rolled out Absurd Rationalization #2.

Vice President Cheney’s office offered its first public written explanation yesterday for its refusal to comply with an executive order regulating the handling of classified material, arguing that the order makes clear that the vice president is not subject to the oversight system it creates for federal agencies.

In a letter to Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), Cheney Chief of Staff David S. Addington wrote that the order treats the vice president the same as the president and distinguishes them both from “agencies” subject to the oversight provisions of the executive order.

Addington did not cite specific language in the executive order supporting this view, and a Cheney spokeswoman could not point to such language last night.

I’m afraid we’re dealing with crazy people. The executive order, Cheney’s office now argues, makes a distinction between Bush and Cheney on the one hand, and executive-branch agencies on the other. Asked where the executive order says this, Cheney’s office refuses to say.

But here’s the thing: we can read the executive order. Sec. 6.1(b) of the document explicitly states that it applies to any “‘Executive agency…any ‘Military department’…and any other entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information.” To exempt Cheney, the White House has to argue that he a) doesn’t have access to classified information; or b) is not an entity within the executive branch. Those are the only two options.

Yesterday, Addington tried to create a new option, insisting that the E.O. had language that doesn’t exist. Maybe it was written in disappearing ink? Maybe you need special 3-D glasses to read these hidden provisions?

As painfully stupid as this argument is, it’s the official new White House line. Here’s Tony Snow at yesterday’s briefing:

“Well, keep in mind, what you’re talking about here is an executive order that involves compliance within the executive branch, but it also says that basically for the purposes of the executive order, the President and the Vice President’s offices are not considered ‘agencies’ and, therefore, are not subject to the regulations.”

These folks really must think we’re idiots. They can tell us that a document says something it clearly does not say, and maybe we won’t know better. I know this gang likes to create its own reality, but this is ridiculous. It’s a written document, publicly available for anyone to read. It’s easy to prove they’re lying.

In other words, with their backs up against the wall, Cheney and the Bush gang have taken to simply making things up, fabricating parts of an executive order out of whole cloth.

In the same press briefing, there was another noteworthy exchange.

Q If there is a breach, who is reporting those —

MR SNOW: This is — I don’t know.

Q Does anybody know?

Q I mean, a separate White House security —

MR SNOW: This is something that the ISOO is responsible for overseeing. I’ll try to get you the procedures on it.

Q But you get the question about oversight? If you say, yes, we’re handling intelligence properly, but there’s nobody that says, here’s a breach, because there’s nobody overseeing —

MR SNOW: But the ISOO is overseeing — what I’m being —

Q Not the President and the Vice President’s office.

MR. SNOW: Well, that’s — yes, correct.

Q So, nobody’s watching, basically.

That’s what Snow’s argument boils down to. There’s an E.O. dictating how the executive branch functions when it comes to handling classified materials. The E.O. places a federal agency in charge of oversight. The White House has exempted Bush and Cheney from the E.O., meaning that they’re exempted from oversight.

They’re accountable to no one, just the way they like it.

The language is top secret. If we could read it, then Cheney would have mishandled it, violating important state secrets. The fact that we can’t read it means that Cheney takes our state secrets seriously, and can be trusted beyond what any oversight could hope accomplish.

These people have gone off the deep end.

  • Maybe it is written on the back of the EO in invisible ink that will only appear when the moon is full and the warm blood from a fresh gunshot wound to the face is rubbed on it.

  • Guess it’s time to get used to dictatorship in America since the Democrats aren’t preserving or protecting our Constitutional Republic.

  • “I’m afraid we’re dealing with crazy people.”

    The way I see it, these folks aren’t crazy, they’re criminals attempting to defend the indefensible. There are no rational excuses for their inexcusable behavior, so they turn to the irrational.

    In order to cover their tracks, they dump a load of bullshit on us. And while we struggle to dig our way out amid the stench, they go on committing new unthinkable acts. New reality, anyone?

  • These folks really must think we’re idiots. They can tell us that a document says something it clearly does not say, and maybe we won’t know better.

    No, tlhey think the Washington Press Corps is idiots. They have ample evidence that this is the case.

  • These folks really must think we’re idiots.

    No, they think the Democratic “leadership” sucks at actually doing ANYTHING serious.

    And so far… they’re right.

  • … but this is ridiculous. It’s a written document, publicly available for anyone to read. It’s easy to prove they’re lying.

    So maybe that’s what they’re now telling us? We no longer care whether anyone can prove we’re lying?

  • I agree with beep52. They aren’t crazy. For six years they’ve done anything they wanted to do and the worst that happened was some people flapped their hands saying oh dear oh dear. Cheney and Bush just want to maintain their status quo.

    All of the Republicans in Congress should really consider what they are doing to the Constitution. And the Democrats should start speaking for the people they elected instead of covering their rear ends. That tactic won’t work at this point in history.

  • I’m surprised that Addington and Snow bother with even these feeble and patently foolish “explanations”. Why don’t they, Bush, and Cheney just put thumb to nose, wiggle fingers, and say “Nah nah nah nah nah”?

  • Apparently a CIA profiler took the time to assess this administration (Bush & his puppetmaster, Cheney). Here is part of his assessment:

    “He views himself as a savior,” Post said in an interview.

    “He has been acting increasingly messianic and so he is likely to either get the constitution rewritten to allow for additional terms or eventually declare himself president-for-life.”

  • I’m not sure what the Democratic leadership can do, besides the purse strings things that Rohm is talking about. If the President, the head of the Executive Dept., issues an Executive Order, that directs one Executive agency to perform an action (take charge of security in the Executive Branch) and then decides to exempt himself from that Executive Order – who would have standing to sue in Court to compel the President otherwise? Presumably the Executive agency is under the direction of the President – they won’t go to court. The Executve Order has nothing to do with Congress, so I don’t see anybody there having standing to do it. So why are people blaming the Democratic leadership?

  • It’s almost as if these people don’t realize it’s the year 2007, where everything they say, and much of what they write as policy, is available for the whole world to see.

    Seriously … these guys have no clue. Their hope — as others have pointed out — is that most of the media won’t dig all that deep, and that the Dems won’t stand up to the challenge.

    So far, both have been correct.

    I can’t imagine how bad it’d be if it weren’t for bloggers.

  • The Dems can bring impeachment articles and seek to impeach Cheney. In doing so they need to let the GOP in Congress know that if they do not assist in such an impeachment then the powers, privileges and immunities claimed by Cheney these past 6 years will then be deemed tacitly approved by those GOP members and will be adopted by any Dem administration that may take the White House in 2009. Frankly, it would be very interesting to see a VP Clinton awarded with such powers…

  • This is like an excerpt from Jimmy Breslin’s novel, The Gang that Couldn’t Shoot Straight. One of the hoods in the novel went into court repeating, “The fix is in.” referring to a judge that had been bought and paid for. I think the Whitewash House is counting on the fact that the media outside the beltway won’t cover this (they haven’t mentioned it yet) and that with a loaded Supreme Court, this current wheelbarrow load of horse shit they are subjecting us to will pass legal scrutiny by the likes of Jack Bauer fluffer Scalia and Alito and their golf buddies. Besides, the court is about to end it’s current session, which will delay things long enough for us to forget about this anyway when faced with the next crimes perpetrated by the Bush/Cheney crime organization. Screw the Sopranos, HBO should do a series on the Bush/Cheney mob and how they try to “rub out” the entire ME. Maybe if all Americans turn on their microwaves simultaneously, Cheney’s pacemaker will shut down. Hope springs eternal.

  • I read the goings on of these WH people, and all I can think of is scum of the earth, kick them to the curb for being the authoritarian asses they are. Defending unwritten provisions of a directive that plainly encompasses the VP and Pres. is merely a mirrored irrationality to the AG’s assertion that since habeas corpus is not literally mentioned in the Constitution, Americans weren’t necessarily granted such a right – whatever argument suits these thugs at the time they need to make it is all they are capable of. We are witnessing the debasing of our nation’s heritage by these malcontent neocons and Roveans. -Kevo

  • Maybe Bush is putting signing statements in his little pink diary with the tiny lock on it now. “Dear Diary, nothing applies to me and my Dick.”

    Cheney is confused. It’s Bush who isn’t a part of the executive branch. Dick IS the executive branch.

  • “These folks really must think we’re idiots.”

    Well you have to admit there’s a rather large body of evidence to support that conclusion. Operating on that assumption had been working pretty well for them up until fairly recently. I mean as a country, we had pretty much been letting them get away with whatever they wanted to do. Don’t you wish the press had shown this kind of skepticism of virtually anything the administration was laying on them back in ’02?

    Part of the reason the Bushies’ excuses are so lame now is that they have not had much experience with being called to account for anything they did. Even now, after a few of us finally started paying enough attention to elect a few Democrats to keep an eye on them, we didn’t elect enough of them to put any quick end to this kind of nonsense.

  • Does anybody remember when the Republicans took Bill Clinton to task about “what the meaning of ‘is’ is”? Cheney and Addington are just providing another example of IOKIYAR.

    F**king Hypocritical Bastards!

    FHB’s indeed!

  • If there is one of these guys who ends up with something really, really terrible and horridly painful happening to him, I hope it’s Addington.

  • Re: Ethel-to-Tilly @ #12
    So why are people blaming the Democratic leadership?

    I can’t speak for other people, but in my opinion the Democrats are standing idly by while The Bush Laden Crime Family led by Dripping “Dick” Cheney imperils, subverts and usurps the U.S. Constitution and American Democracy and destroys our Constitutional Republic.

    The “political reality” may be that impeachment is not feasible. But the Dems possess a strong enough majority in the House to actually bring the articles of impeachment and they have, as the majority of regular Carpetbagger readers would agree, a reasonable basis to investigate the abuses of power and lawlessness of the Loyal Bushie Brownshirt Cabal as aggressively as necessary.

    The other point that I wanted to make is that although the deck may be stacked in the Big Corporate McMedia against the Dems, they would have truth and justice on their side, and they could begin today making their case to the American people for impeachment. Indeed, they are in a position to demand national MSM attention and receive it.

    So what are the Dems doing to advocate public awareness of what really amounts to the most egregious breach of national security perpetrated by the treasonous international criminals occupying the Executive Branch? Rahm Emanuel makes a nice chart and quips about “Dick” relinquishing his salary. Dick Durbin tells us that the Vice President is bad and should stop doing bad things.

    And only 8 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have risen to the level of contempt for Traitor “Dick” Cheney that he himself has for our Constitutional Republic by co-sponsoring House Resolution 333.

    That leads me to my final analysis. Shouldn’t the Democratic Presidential candidates loudly and clearly articulate their position about “Dick” Cheney’s treachery?

    I hear Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich speaking out with courage and conviction, and in Kucinich’s case it is actually backed up by action (House Resolution 333). They want the “Dick” out and do not beat-around-the-bush-administration about it. Where’s Obama? Where’s Hillary? Where’s Edwards? Where are our leaders?

  • Steve, remember to remind folks of the Filipino American who was convicted for giving state secrets to the Phillipine government, and he worked in Cheney’s office. Also, please note, in a little comented upon decision this week the SCOTUS ruled that it’s not rackateering if the government does it, so there go my pleas for RICO indictments against the WH, OVP and DoJ. Fuckers. ( Richard at All Spin Zone has more particulars)

    I heard, while flipping channels yesterday, some apologist for the administration say something hokey about the President would know exactly what he meant when he signed the executive order, and we should just take them at their word that the Pres and OVP were exempted from the order.

    And honestly, if it weren’t for blogs, I’d be more bat sh*t crazy than the veep is.

    Can we please start impeachment proceedings now? Sheesh Dems, even if you can’t get a conviction in the Senate, thanks Connecticut, the country would feel better, and we’d at least think the congress was doing something to protect and defend the constitution from ALL enemies, foreign and domestic. And history will not look kindly on the Dems who do not pursue restoring the rule of law.

  • Re: Ethel-to-Tilly @ #12

    You asked, “why are people blaming the Democratic leadership?”

    You’re kidding, right? The Democrats people have enabled Bush and Cheney for six+ years! Remember the USA PATRIOT Act that they didn’t read before they approved? Remember all the Democrats who gave Bush a green light on Iraq, even as EXPERT WITNESSES like Scott Ritter were calling bullshit on the entire illegal, immoral, murderous, and unnecessary invasion and occupation?

    I know, I know, Democrats were the minority then, so they had to simply go along with the ignoramus stampede. That was their excuse then. But what’s their excuse now? They can’t impeach Bush and Cheney because of (fill in the blanks). The Democrats are the best allies Republicans have, gazing at their navels, contemplating just how to write the next nasty letter to the editor, and fiddling as Nero Bush and Caligula Cheney burn the Constitution.

    Maybe impeachment wouldn’t work. But why aren’t the Democrats in Congress at least TRYING it? Republicans impeached a President with a 75% approval rating, so why can’t Democrats ATTEMPT to impeach a Republican with a 25% approval rating?

    I think the answer, much as we’d like to ignore it, is that both parties are controlled by the same puppeteers and that the Constitution doesn’t mean shit to anybody “electable.”

    Which way to the egress?

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