Cheney's abuses will take years to repair (Concord Monitor)

[struggle4progress]

Cheney's abuses will take years to repair
July 08. 2007 10:00AM

People with extreme views and tortured interpretations of the Constitution usually remain on the fringes of American politics and society. But not always. Witness the creation of the imperial vice presidency and what has amounted to a fourth branch of government that is Dick Cheney. ~snip~

With Cheney pulling strings and making threats offstage, the administration decided to ignore the Geneva conventions, torture captives at Abu Ghraib, keep hundreds of people held incommunicado in the prison at Guantanamo Bay and "disappear" people into secret prisons abroad. ~snip~

The new president should disavow Cheney's contention that the Constitution's use of the term "unitary executive" means one unconstrained by Congress, the courts, or the rule of law. That interpretation is as extreme as refusing to pay income taxes based on the use of the word "voluntary" in tax law. The "unitary executive theory," reminiscent of Richard Nixon's infamous declaration that "When the president does it, that means it is not illegal," has been the legal underpinning of many of Cheney's excesses. ~snip~

http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070708/REPOSITORY/707080366/1027/OPINION01

[tularetom]

1. I'm as eager as anybody else to get rid of the dick but

let's not forget Cheney's excesses would never have been possible with a president who possessed even one shred of honor, courage or dignity. Imagine how many times bush has told you over the years that he is a "strong leader" and then ask yourself who is he really trying to convince. He knows he is a scared little boy in a mans job and he knows he never would have even survived until now without cheney pulling the strings and now he's afraid we all know that too.

Cheney is evil but it's bush's weakness as a president that made cheney possible. As bad as things are now, imagine how much worse things would have been if that nutbag bush had actually been in charge.

Disclaimer: NOT defending cheney. I want to see him in the Hague as much as the next guy.