NYT The Trust Gap (central flaw of Bush presidency)

[cal04]

We can't think of a president who has gone to the American people more often than George W. Bush has, to ask them to forget about things like democracy, judicial process and the balance of powers — and just trust him. We also can't think of a president who has deserved that trust less. This has been a central flaw of Mr. Bush's presidency for a long time. But last week produced a flood of evidence that vividly drove home the point.

(snip)
DOMESTIC SPYING After 9/11, Mr. Bush authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on the conversations and e-mail of Americans and others in the United States without obtaining a warrant or allowing Congress or the courts to review the operation. Lawmakers from both parties have raised considerable doubt about the legality of this program, but Attorney General Alberto Gonzales made it clear last Monday at a Senate hearing that Mr. Bush hasn't the slightest intention of changing it.

According to Mr. Gonzales, the administration can be relied upon to police itself and hold the line between national security and civil liberties on its own. Set aside the rather huge problem that our democracy doesn't work that way. It's not clear that this administration knows where the line is, much less that it is capable of defending it. Mr. Gonzales's own dedication to the truth is in considerable doubt. In sworn testimony at his confirmation hearing last year, he dismissed as "hypothetical" a question about whether he believed the president had the authority to conduct warrantless surveillance. In fact, Mr. Gonzales knew Mr. Bush was doing just that, and had signed off on it as White House counsel.

(snip)
Like many other administrations before it, this one sometimes dissembles clumsily to avoid embarrassment. (We now know, for example, that the White House did not tell the truth about when it learned the levees in New Orleans had failed.) Spin-as-usual is one thing. Striking at the civil liberties, due process and balance of powers that are the heart of American democracy is another.

more
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/opinion/12sun1.html?hp

[kenny blankenship]

1. I guess they forgot Article 2, Section 5 of the Constitution

We all remember this one from civics class, I bet:
"Just trust the President. Thou shalt love and obey thy President with all thy soul, and have no other officers before him."

[Virginian]

2. This sounds like Lawrence ODonnell on McLaughlin tonight.

He said the American people aren't believing everything Bush* says anymore because he has been caught in too many lies. Or did he say half of us aren't believing anything Bush* says?
Has he written anything lately on this or did he read this editorial before he went on McLaughlin?