I can say without a doubt that George Bush will go down in history as one of the top five worst presidents in American history. The crap that this administration has pulled is mind boggling. If you take their assumption that they (and only they) know what is best for this country, add it to their "the end justifies the means" view of the world, you end up with a bunch of mean spirited, arrogant people who think they can get away with anything because they (and only they) understand the big picture.
We are seeing this "the end justifies the means" mindset played out every time another scandal is exposed. Bush's quickness to play the executive privilege card in an effort to stonewall any investigation into probable misconduct by members of the White House Staff and/or Presidential appointees tells me that this guy don't want any of his decisions questioned by anyone.
(Just pretend that we all believe he is really thinking this stuff up by himself.)
How many times has the White House played the executive privilege card?
1. During the Congressional investigation into alleged abuses by the Boston FBI.
2. During the Congressional confirmation hearings of his Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers.
3. During the Congressional investigation into government response after Hurricane Katrina.
4. They were planning on using it, if needed, in the Justice Department's investigation into the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
5. And now in the Congressional investigations into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys for alleged political reasons by U.S Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Executive privilege, which Nolo (publishers of do-it-yourself legal help books) defines as: The privilege that allows the president and other high officials of the executive branch to keep certain communications private if disclosing those communications would disrupt the functions or decision making processes of the executive branch. That means the president can withhold certain information even if served with a subpoena by Congress. This privilege is not absolute and cannot be invoked just because the president says the information being requested is privileged. Richard Nixon tried using this same argument when asked to turn over the Watergate tapes. The Supreme Court decided that executive privilege has its limits and ordered the tapes released:
"Neither the doctrine of separation of powers, nor the need for confidentiality of high-level communications, without more, can sustain an absolute, unqualified Presidential privilege of immunity from judicial process under all circumstances. The President's need for complete candor and objectivity from advisers calls for great deference from the courts. However, when the privilege depends solely on the broad, undifferentiated claim of public interest in the confidentiality of such conversations, a confrontation with other values arises."
—Chief Justice Warren Burger
Chairperson of the House Judiciary subcommittee investigating the dismissal of the attorneys, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), has said executive privilege is not "a get out of jail free card." Bush of course thinks otherwise.
(What this all means here.)
His Gang of Five are: deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers (Miers again?), Miers' deputy William Kelley, White House political strategist Scott Jennings, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff Kyle Sampson. All more than happy to follow any White House marching orders.
I don't know which is worse, this Administration's self-righteous arrogance or the fact that it has taken this long for the Congress and the citizens of this country to finally call the president and his people on it.
Sidebar: Writing this has got me thinking about something my mother once asked, "Why do so many powerful Republicans have that unformed look of the Phillsbury Doughboy?"
Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, John McCain, Alberto Gonzales, Pillsbury Doughboy.
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