David Addington explored a possible presidential candidacy for Mr. Cheney.

[babylonsister]

I've been wondering about this relationship; they're thick as thieves. How did Cheney find someone who fit so well with his 'vision'?
I guess the dim one is the puppet, but I think they both share the yanking of the strings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Addington

From 1993 to 2001, he worked in private practice, for law firms Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz and Holland & Knight, and the American Trucking Associations.{3} He headed a political action committee, the Alliance for American Leadership, set up in large part to explore a possible presidential candidacy for Mr. Cheney.

{edit} Vice President's office

After he began working for Vice President Cheney, Addington was very influential in many different areas of policy. He authored or helped to shape many of the most controversial policies of the Bush administration.<2> Addington's influence strongly reflects his hawkish views on U.S. foreign policy, a position he had apparently already committed to as a teenager during the late phase of the Vietnam War in the early 1970s.{4}

Addington has consistently advocated that under the Constitution, the President has unlimited powers as commander in chief during wartime. In October 2005, Addington was tapped to become the Vice President's chief of staff, replacing I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who had resigned after being indicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. He is the legal force behind over 750 signing statements President Bush has added to bills passed by Congress. Addington was a legal advisor to President Reagan, and suggested that such signing statements be used to exempt President Reagan from responsibility for the Iran-Contra scandal.

Addington helped to shape an August 2002 opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel that said torture might be justified in some cases.{5}He advocates scaling back the authority of lawyers in the uniformed services. He consistently advocates the expansion of presidential powers and Unitary Executive theory, nearly absolute deference to the Executive Branch from Congress and the Federal judiciary.

Addington was mentioned by title in "Scooter" I. Lewis Libby Jr.'s indictment for five felony charges related to the Plame affair, regarding the leak of the identity of a CIA officer.{6}

more...

[HCE SuiGeneris]

1. and he got it... 'cept without all the trappings of executive accountability n/t

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. I am reminded of the street hawker's game in NYNY

where you give the guy your money and try to guess under which cup the bean sits.

Except here, instead of a bean, the object is a snake. And instead of every cup being empty, each of the three cups cover a deadly viper: Addington, Cheney, Libby - a nest of deadly snakes.

[pwb]

3. the neocons thought they would rule for a century?

They may have been thinking of Cheney as their presidential candidate in 2008 before the 2006 election. to bad that all fell apart on them ha?

[Solly Mack]

4. Campaign Donations - Addington to include 1994 - Alliance for American Leadership

http://www.newsmeat.com/washington_political_donations/David_Addington.php

ADDINGTON, DAVID S
ALEXANDRIA, VA 22301
ALLIANCE FOR AMERICAN LEADERSHIP


ALLIANCE FOR AMERICAN LEADERSHIP

(FKA CHENEY FOR CONG) (R) $300


primary 02/18/94


and this one from Greenspan for ALLIANCE FOR AMERICAN LEADERSHIP

http://www.newsmeat.com/washington_political_donations/Alan_Greenspan.php

GREENSPAN, ALAN
NEW YORK, NY 10005
TOWNSEND & GREENSPAN

ALLIANCE FOR AMERICAN LEADERSHIP

(FKA CHENEY FOR CONG) (R) $1,000

primary 11/25/85

GREENSPAN, ALAN
NEW YORK, NY 10004
TOWNSEND & GREENSPAN

ALLIANCE FOR AMERICAN LEADERSHIP

(FKA CHENEY FOR CONG) (R) $500

primary 10/24/83

[KharmaTrain]

5. I Never Thought There'd Be Someone Darker Than Cheney...There Is

Addington is a real weasel...hiding from the light. This slimeball needs to be brought into the open and thoroughly investigated. Here's where impeachment is useless as Addington seems to be the one who has his fingers in a lot of scandals...and he's not an electe representative. They can't even get rid of a hack like Lurita Doan...and what Addington has done is criminal.

I'm starting a collection here of who belongs in a cell in the Hague...who gets their own and who shares. Addington gets the cell with a Komodo Dragon.

[babylonsister]

7. I so agree! He's slimier than that komodo! nt

[leveymg]

6. It's curious that John Yoo has taken all the heat for the torture & unitary exec memos,

whereas Addington seems to be every bit as culpable as the advocate and intellectual author of those policies.

Why does Addington have Teflon - is it just because he's smart eniough not to put his name directly on incriminating documents, such as the August 2002 torture memos?

[babylonsister]

9. Yoo could have been their fall guy; they're nothing if not

organized. Seems as if they were a step ahead of everyone in covering their respective asses.

[Solly Mack]

11. Because Yoo and Bybee signed their names, yes

maybe they felt they couldn't be touched...and while both may be tarnished, they have both still gone untouched...not in jail, have good jobs(one's a professor of law and the other is now a judge - confirmed by the senate no less)...life goes on for them.

Yoo, Bybee and Addington weren't exactly at cross purposes


and unless something is done, life will go on for Addington as well.

[Emit]

19. From all I've read on Yoo and Addington

Yoo was Addington's protege...

One author described Yoo as "Addington’s academic front man..."

And that Addington is very private and secretive -- doesn't answer his phone, declines interviews, etc.

This guy needs to be exposed.

[Emit]

8. Addington goes back with Cheney more than two decades...and Libby, too

WHITE HOUSE
Addington's Role In Cheney's Office Draws Fresh Attention
By Murray Waas and Paul Singer
© National Journal Group Inc.
Sunday, Oct. 30, 2005


Addington and Libby have been close personally, and Addington's professional association with Cheney goes back more than two decades. Addington was counsel to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the 1980s when Cheney was a member of that panel. And when President George H.W. Bush appointed Cheney as Secretary of Defense, Addington served as general counsel at Defense and as a special assistant to Cheney.

In addition to being longtime friends and colleagues, Cheney, Addington and Libby share a fundamental philosophy on the issue of executive power and have sought to implement it in asserting Cheney's power as vice president.

All three strongly believe that the presidency was severely weakened by Vietnam, Watergate, and other events, and that the Congress, the courts, and the media have encroached on and diminished executive branch powers and prerogatives.

Essential to reasserting presidential power, they have argued, is the necessity of setting strict limits on the release of executive branch information to Congress and the public, particularly in the area of foreign policy. Addington has been the administration's point man in this effort.

**** snip ****

Addington shares with Cheney and Libby the view of increasing presidential power and authority and setting strict limits on the release of executive branch information to both Congress and the public.

As early as May 2001, Addington was the point person for the White House in deflecting requests by congressional Democrats and later the General Accounting Office (now named the Government Accountability Office) for information about the energy policy task force convened by Cheney's office.

During confirmation hearings of Alberto Gonzales to be attorney general, it was revealed that Addington helped draft the White House memo that concluded that the Geneva Convention against torture did not apply to prisoners captured in the war on terror. The memo declared that terrorism "renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."

http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2005/1030nj1.htm

[Emit]

10. Photo of Cheney, Addington, et al on 9/11

~snip~

In his time of need, he has counted on the help of at least one unswervingly faithful aide. With Libby sidelined, the vice president has elevated David Addington, a loyal acolyte, to be his new chief of staff. Addington has been at the vice president's side since the 1980s, when Cheney was a congressman and Addington a lawyer for the House intelligence committee. When Cheney became secretary of Defense during the first Bush presidency, Addington went with him. A skilled bureaucratic infighter who uses his temper strategically to stun foes into submission, Addington, now 48, has matured into a classic Washington type: the most powerful man you've never heard of. As Cheney's counsel, Addington—a private workaholic who, unlike Libby, shuns reporters—was one of the most forceful voices for tough treatment of terror suspects. It was Addington who drafted the January 2002 Alberto Gonzales memo which argued that captured Taliban and Qaeda fighters shouldn't be covered by the Geneva Conventions. He was behind the presidential order establishing military tribunals. And he passionately argued that in wartime the president has almost unlimited power—a point of view that was spelled out in the "torture memo" that the administration was eventually forced to rescind under public pressure.

~snip~

Staffers were dispatched to write up the new policies. But in the end, nothing came of them. Cheney and Addington, who usually stayed silent at meetings, used their influence afterward to kill the ideas, according to three administration officials who asked for anonymity to avoid crossing the vice president. "Each time, hit a brick wall—the vice president's office and Addington," says one of the officials. The vice president's office declined to comment for this story beyond saying that Cheney "is motivated first and foremost in support of policies that will save American lives from a brutal enemy that has declared war on us."

Cheney relied on Addington to help him wrestle with the bureaucracy. "He knows it inside and out," says Juleanna Glover Weiss, Cheney's former press secretary. "He's a master of the Rube Goldberg-esque workings of the executive branch." Friends marvel at his ability to wade through hundreds of pages of turgid government reports to seize upon the one fact he needs to win an argument. "If you threw the entire U.S. budget into the air, David Addington could read it and mark it up before it ever hit the ground," says David Gribbin, a former Pentagon colleague. He could also be unforgiving. When a young Justice Department lawyer named Pat Philbin crossed Addington in a policy dispute, Addington made it his mission to block Philbin's promotion to a top Justice job. Addington let it be known that Philbin was a "marked man," says a colleague who spoke anonymously to avoid clashing with Addington. (Addington and Philbin declined to comment.)

Cheney and Addington's single-minded devotion to the idea of a powerful wartime presidency has, at times, led them to ignore important political realities. In 2002, administration lawyers tried to persuade Cheney and Addington to back off from the policy of denying U.S. "enemy combatants" access to legal counsel. But Cheney and Addington refused. But by 2004, the case had reached the Supreme Court and the administration wound up abandoning the position anyway, before the Justices could knock it down as unconstitutional. "David could be principled to a fault," says Bradford Berenson, a former White House colleague. It's a quality the vice president and his loyal aide admire most about one another—and one that will help define the battles to come.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9938956/site/newsweek/

edited to add info and link

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

12. Then, this nation is NOT a democratic republic which requires NO MAN have unlimited powers,...

,...under any circumstance!

Apparently, Addington is anti-American, anti-democracy, anti-democratic republic.

[Emit]

13. "Addington keeps tabs on judicial selections, U.S. attorney nominations, and political polls..."

This is a must read article, IMHO:

~snip~

A voracious consumer of information, Addington keeps tabs on judicial selections, U.S. attorney nominations, and political polls. He is, says his former colleague Nancy Dorn, "granular" and "microscopic," adding: "There was no issue too small, his eyes would catch it. It used to drive me crazy. But that's what you need."

Addington's position in Cheney's office--at "the sausage end of the sausage-making machine," as one former Justice official describes it--allows him to wield enormous influence because he is typically the second-to-last lawyer to vet documents be-fore they land on the president's desk. "David was exceptionally good," says Cunningham, the former deputy legal adviser to the National Security Council, "at keeping his powder dry until the last minute." Addington's bottom line, those who know him say, is ensuring that even if the administration loses on a policy issue, the principle of executive power is protected. "He was very disciplined about knowing and articulating the difference," says Cunningham, "between constitutional legal issues and policy issues."

That became evident when Addington began his first big legal battle, in early 2001, after Cheney refused to release documents relating to a controversial energy task force that he headed. Two private watchdog groups and Congress sued to find out whether energy industry lobbyists improperly sat on the task force and influenced administration policy. In a series of letters to David Walker, the comptroller general of the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, Addington argued that neither Congress nor the courts could "intrude into the heart of executive deliberations," because it would inhibit the "candor" necessary to "effective government." Addington argued strenuously that no matter what the political or policy outcomes, protecting the information sought by the task force was the right thing to do. "They gave up short-term political expediency," Berenson says, "for the larger constitutional principle." More than three years later, Addington's judgment was vindicated by the Supreme Court, which refused to order the Bush administration to release the documents.

~snip~

That core group consisted of Bush's counsel and now attorney general, Alberto Gonzales; his deputies, Timothy Flanigan and David Leitch; the Pentagon's influential general counsel, William Haynes; and a young attorney named John Yoo, who worked in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

Whether or not he became the de facto leader of the group, as some administration officials say, Addington's involvement made for a formidable team. "You put Addington, Yoo, and Gonzales in a room, and there was a race to see who was tougher than the rest and how expansive they could be with respect to presidential power," says a former Justice Department official. "If you suggested anything less, you were considered a wimp." Others say Addington and Flanigan influenced Gonzales, who lacked their national security background.

Addington had close ties to Yoo, Haynes, and Flanigan. Yoo was Addington's protege and Hayne's squash buddy. Haynes, whose friendship with Addington dates back nearly two decades, was backed by Rumsfeld and his neoconservative deputies Stephen Cambone and Paul Wolfowitz. Addington and Flanigan had also become close, having experienced 9/11 from an extraordinary vantage point--Flanigan from the White House Situation Room, Addington by Cheney's side at the President's Emergency Operations Center in a bunker underneath the complex. In the weeks and months after the attacks, says a former White House official, the two men would often take secret trips to undisclosed locations together, including the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba, where the Pentagon began holding hundreds of detainees. One time, they even showed up together on a nuclear submarine.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060529/29addington_3.htm

[originalpckelly]

14. Dick Cheney is Dick Nixon. Both had/have the same problem with interpersonal communication.

But Cheney learned from Dick Nixon's failures being the front man, so instead, he found out that George W. Bush was going to run and got all close to him. Eventually he would pick himself to be the VP.

There is a whole long line of events going on here, Cheney has probably been planning this takeover of our government since the 80s, at least.

[Emit]

15. Cheney, Addington and Iran-contra

A bit more from that same must-read article I excerpted above:

When Cheney became ranking Republican on the House select committee investigating the Iran-contra scandal, Addington helped write the strongly worded minority report that said the law barring aid to the Nicaraguan contras was unconstitutional because it improperly impinged on the president's power. The argument would become the cornerstone of the Bush administration's post-9/11 policies.

~snip~

Addington spent two years in the Reagan White House in a variety of positions. When George H.W. Bush was elected president, Addington moved to the Pentagon to help with the confirmation hearings for Bush's nominee for defense secretary, former Texas Sen. John Tower. Cheney, meanwhile, had just been named the new Republican whip in the House and hired Addington as his new counsel. Addington switched jobs, but within weeks, the Senate rejected the Tower nomination, and Bush tapped Cheney to be his new nominee for defense secretary. Addington dug in, helped Cheney prepare for his confirmation hearings, and subsequently became his special assistant. Addington, says one of Cheney's closest friends and colleagues, David Gribbin, "became the most powerful staffer in the Pentagon" because he processed virtually all the position papers flowing to and from the secretary and deputy secretary. Still, Gribbin says he never viewed Addington as a gatekeeper, but many others did. "If David and I ever tangled," says one former senior Pentagon official, "it was because I may have thought a time or two that he was overzealous in his defense of the prerogatives of the secretary."

Those prerogatives, however, were sacrosanct to Addington. If a staffer submitted a draft memo for President Bush that copied Cheney and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Addington would cross out the latter. "He would say, the president talks to the secretary, and the secretary can do what he wants," says the former Pentagon official. Oddly, Addington "abhorred" the use of Latin phrases in memos, this official says, and would slash them out with his infamous red pen.

It wasn't long before Addington became the military's top lawyer. As the Pentagon general counsel, Addington soon alienated the armed forces' judge advocate generals by authoring a memo ordering the proudly independent corps of career military attorneys to report to the general counsel of each service. "He wanted the military services to be not so independent," says a retired Navy JAG, Rear Adm. Don Guter. "It came under the rubric of civilian control of the military. It's centralization. It's control."

The JAG officers fought back and, with Congress's support, remained independent. But Addington, typically, found another way to prevail. He wrote a memo decreeing that only the general counsel of each service--not the JAGs--could issue final legal opinions. After George W. Bush was elected president in 2000 (Addington sat out the Clinton years, in private practice), Guter warned his colleagues: "I said, 'Stand by, these same people are coming back. And you remember what they tried to do last time.'" After the 9/11 attacks, the JAG officers were marginalized from the decision making on military tribunals and detainee treatment policies. They became among President Bush's most vocal critics within the military.

~snip~

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060529/29addington_3.htm

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

17. Did you happen to read the earlier post that suggest Addington believed in the rule of law?

:rofl:

OMG!!! I'll see if I can find that bs!!!

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

18. Ah! Here it is by the same OP,...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1180935

[Emit]

20. Well, to give credit to emptywheel, he did clarify further in the paragraph.

emptywheel writes: "...Addington does believe in the rule of law ... so long as they don't clash with the power of the presidency."

So, a more fitting description might be that Addington believes that the President and Vice-President are above the Rule of Law.

[annabanana]

21. emptywheel is a bit "weedy" but she is on point

Her work on the Libby trial was brilliant.

[Emit]

16. kick n/t

[MagickMuffin]

22. Off to the Greatest

For ALL the good info here.

[Emit]

23. kick n/t