Cheney biographer: VP’s view of presidential power is ‘more radical’ than Nixon’s.
Cheney biographer: VP’s view of presidential power is ‘more radical’ than Nixon’s.
On Sunday, Vice President Cheney made the astounding claim that if the President does anything during wartime to protect the country, it is legal — echoing Richard Nixon. Yesterday, Cheney biographer Barton Gellman told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that Cheney’s claim is actually “more radical” than Nixon’s because Cheney said it while serving in office:
It’s actually I think more radical than what Nixon said, because Nixon never enunciated that as policy during his administration and neither did his Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department. And this administration, they did. Cheney was asked, doesn’t Congress have any say here? He said, Congress can pass statutes, but he said, we don’t have to obey them — we don’t need no stinkin’ statutes.
Watch it:
Gellman also disputed Cheney’s claim that members of Congress who were briefed on Bush’s illegal surveillance program wholeheartedly endorsed it. “Now, I talked to four people who were in that meeting…and all of them dispute that that’s the way it happened,” he said.
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Like what Nixon did? Bush/Cheney will go even further!
So much for “humble” anything… or “fixing” Washington.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:11 amCheney worked for Nixon. These neoFascists have been coming back time and time again trying to push the same thing.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:12 amCheney and Bush think the President is Pharoah. A God-King who can just do anything he wants. They should end up in prison so they know in THIS country the LAW is king
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:15 amBush, the college cheerleader, might “appreciate” this call:
“Push ‘em back, push ‘em back, way back!”
It is definitely “push back” time and the country needs to do it aggressively and relentlessly. I want my country back.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:20 amNot answering to the other branches of government means we no longer live in a democracy. Cheney and Bush will never have to answer for their lawlessness, so there is no deterrent to future presidents to prevent them from doing the same thing. Congress had better tighten its checks on the executive branch, and soon. As for Cheney’s ties to Nixon, rawstory.com has a story on a new book about Nixon’s ties to Poppy Bush and how they may have been Nixon’s undoing. Pretty shocking theories, but they explain a lot about the W presidency.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:20 amWait! You dont think this means Deadeye lied to us do you????
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:20 amThis is why I will never forgive Ford for pardoning Nixon and letting the junior varsity thugs like Cheney continue their political careers under the false pretense that Nixon was hounded from office and didn’t do anything illegal. That is why the evil of the Bush administration cannot be forgotten and must be prosecuted.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:21 amDecember 23rd, 2008 at 11:24 am
Vocabulary word of the day.
Megalomania: A psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:32 amThis is why Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi need to go. They took impeachment off the table. It led many citizens, mostly LIVs to believe that Bush and Cheney had done nothing wrong and that’s bad enough. Now we know that Bush and Cheney and all their minions also believe that they have done nothing wrong. Otherwise they wouldn’t be talking as much as they’ve been. If they aren’t held accountable soon there is not stopping any future president from becoming a dictator.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:35 amOh, and since when did horse sh*t deserve a biographer.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:36 amIt’s like they’re draining the power from the other branches… Congress doesn’t assert jack.
No impeachment for torture? I don’t want to have to explain this to my kids!
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:47 amFord let Nixon off. Reagan and BushI pardoned Iran Contra players. I hope we stick with the “Not This Time” idea.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:50 amWell, it only took 8 years, but now everyone is finally catching on – Cheney used Bush to usher in the 3rd term of Richard Nixon and do everything Cheney thought Nixon should have done to increase Executive (Unitary Executive) power and then some.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:02 pmThe thing about Cheney is that his air of gravitas hides the fact that he’s not really that sharp. He’s been an absolute disaster everywhere he’s gone. The guy just isn’t as smart as everybody seems to think he is. He was a disaster for Ford, most of the people in Reagan and Bush I’s organizations thought he was a kook, and he’s now led us into one of the most absurd foreign policy blunders in history. The history books will not be kind to Cheney.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:04 pmRight on Shayne.
Does anyone here know of any organized push to have these people investigated for their crimes? It needs to happen, and while I’m not quite hopeful that the Obama administration won’t be terribly proactive on this issue we need to push them in the right direction.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:56 pm“[Cheney]’s view of presidential power is ‘more radical’ than Nixon’s.”
Hmm… I believe the word you are looking for is crooked. Why, perhaps even corrupt, illegal, or fascistic would describe it just as well…
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:57 pmIf it was up to me, I would hang Bush/Cheney and every administration official from EVERY lamp post up and down Constitution Ave.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:04 pmCheney biographer: VP’s view of presidential power is ‘more radical’ than Nixon’s.
Um, no shit, Sherlock.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:07 pmPeople like Cheney have always been around. Cheney is like a bad meal you can’t seem to get rid of it.
Cheney is more radical then Nixon. He is a kind of aberration hopefully we won’t see too often. Somehow we never seem to run out of such people. The world seems to produce them with such horrible regularity.
I wish I believed in divine retribution. I don’t. I usually hope for legal means. And that doesn’t always work either. Cheney will leave the country for Dubai or get his pardon.
So this biographer just figured this out while writing this book? He could have watched Cheney over time and skipped the book. Not a very original thought. He could have asked any of us, we could have told him and saved him the ink.
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:22 pmIf Cheney’s biography does not end with him behind bars, then there is something seriously wrong with America.
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:02 pmHe’s been an absolute disaster everywhere he’s gonesohbet.Now we know that Bush and Cheney Bedava mp3 indirand all their minions also believe that they have done nothing wrong.They should end up in prison so they know in THIScet country the LAW is king
March 1st, 2009 at 11:20 am