Former Cheney Aide David Addington emerges from Heritage as brutal enforcer of tea party dogma

[seafan]

One of the most hated and destructive men of the Bush/Cheney years, yet unknown to most Americans, is now one of the most strident voices pushing the rigid ideology of the tea party during the bitter fight over the debt ceiling. (HT to digby)


David Addington.






National Journal:


July 27, 2011

..... But the debate doesn’t simply involve warring economists. Instead, one of the louder voices belongs to David Addington, the architect of the George W. Bush administration’s harsh interrogation policies and a former chief of staff for then-Vice President Dick Cheney.

Addington has taken on a new role as enforcer of tea party dogma during the intensifying partisan bickering over the debt ceiling. From his perch as the Heritage Foundation’s vice president for domestic and economic policy, Addington is throwing verbal thunderbolts at House Speaker John Boehner’s current debt-ceiling proposal, which he argues will pave the way to tax increases.

The merits of Addington’s arguments about the need to oppose Boehner's proposals are in some ways less interesting than the simple fact that Addington is the one publicly making them. Addington kept a low profile during the Bush years, granting no interviews and largely shunning lawmakers from either party. But he wielded enormous power behind the scenes, helping Cheney craft the Bush administration’s warrantless eavesdropping program and most of its detention initiatives.

.....

“To see this person who led the country into legal and moral disaster resurface as a respected commentator is somewhat galling,” said Ben Wizner, the litigation director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project. “Addington was as responsible as anyone else for the U.S. becoming a torturing nation. He has done damage to the U.S. that will take decades to reverse.”

.....

The National Journal notes the striking irony of the reemergence of David Addington, the primary architect of unbridled executive power of the Bush/Cheney presidency, as he now loudly pushes tea party extremists in the legislature to undermine the power of the president.

“We’re going to push and push and push until some larger force makes us stop,” explained Vice President’s Dick Cheney’s legal counsel David Addington, according to Goldsmith’s new book, The Terror Presidency.

digby:

This would be the problem with not playing the blame game or looking in the rear view mirror. If you don't destroy these zombies' ability to wield their malevolent influence, they just keep coming back. Some day people will realize that they are dangerous, even when they're out of office.

And we are suffering mightily because of the cowardice of those who had the power to stop them.

[spanone]

1. should have been jailed long ago

[The Magistrate]

6. Exactly, Sir: If He Were Occupied Fending Off Indictment And Trial, He Would Not have Time For This

[Webster Green]

2. Smug looking war criminal' isn't he?

Best not post what I'm thinking right now. :mad:

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. I was wondering where he had gone under

not surprised.

[grasswire]

4. I thought we were going to look forward

Not backward.

[checks-n-balances]

5. A sociopath. Why are we not surprised? We're imploding...

:nuke:

[Mimosa]

7. Photograph should be used to illustrate "SMUG" in dictionary

So may middle aged Anglo 'conservative' white men look just like that. They exude superiority and 'comfort'. I have no prejudice against them based on sex or race. The man's expression has no indication of kindness or tolerance. *Look at his eyes*.

[aquart]

8. Yep. This is what happens when you refuse to prosecute.

[libodem]

9. Uggh

Yuck. Should have known. Filthy, vile, creature.

[Blue Owl]

10. Addington's a professional fuckbag

n/t

[hifiguy]

11. This fucker should be in a supermax for the rest of his life

for war crimes and crimes against humanity.