NY Times Op/Ed: "When the Bush presidency ends, there will be a great deal of damage to repair"

[Hissyspit]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/opinion/22fri1.html?hp

Editorial
Don’t Veto, Don’t Obey

Published: June 22, 2007
President Bush is notorious for issuing statements taking exception to hundreds of bills as he signs them. This week, we learned that in a shocking number of cases, the Bush administration has refused to enact those laws. Congress should use its powers to insist that its laws are obeyed.

- snip -

The Bush administration’s disregard for these laws is part of its extraordinary theory of the “unitary executive.” The administration asserts that the president has the sole authority to supervise and direct executive officers, and that Congress and the courts cannot interfere. This theory, which has no support in American history or the Constitution, is a formula for autocracy.

Other presidents have issued signing statements, but none has issued as many, or done so with the same contemptuous attitude toward the co-equal branches of government. The G.A.O. report makes clear that Mr. Bush’s signing statements were virtually written instructions to executive agencies to flout acts of Congress. Senator Robert Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, has said that the report shows that Mr. Bush “is constantly grabbing for more power” and trying to push Congress “to the sidelines.”

Members of Congress have a variety of methods available to make the administration obey the law. They should call the agency heads up to Capitol Hill to explain their intransigence. And they should use the power of the purse, the authority the founders wisely vested in the people’s branch, as a check on a runaway executive branch.

When the Bush presidency ends, there will be a great deal of damage to repair, much of it to the Constitutional system. Congress should begin now to restore the principle that even the president and those who work for him are not above the law.

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[rusty charly]

1. "even the president and those who work for him are not above the law."

is this considered news?

this and the new cheney classification is too depressing to process.

[ProgressiveAmPatriot]

6. This is what happens when people have no shame n/t

[whistle]

2. How about $150 trillion worth of damage

[illinoisprogressive]

3. I was thinking that maybe Bush's ongoing stomping on the constitution,

trying to destroy our civil rights and then, hearing about this so called North American Union thing. What if bush wants to destroy the country and everything about it. No more constitution, or civil rights, or congress, or elections and no more America. I know it sounds crazy but, with this bunch, nothing is too out there when concidering what they are up to.

[Ilsa]

4. He should be impeached for violating his oath of office and not

enforcing the laws. Among other things, too numerous to list here.

[Rageneau]

5. When Bush leaves, will the New York Times apologize for installing him?

Absent the NYT's many lies about Gore and complete disregard of Bush's many, many, many questionable actions and foibles, the nation would not have had to endure the Bush presidency and the Times wouldn't have to be speculating about how much damage he did.

Bush is at fault, yes. But personally, I hold the NYT and other media giants to be just as guilty of what has happened to our country as Bush is. Because they lied to enable him to become president.

[SeattleGirl]

7. Ya think?

:eyes: