After yesterday’s Federal Court ruling that declared George W. Bush’s illegal domestic spy program unconstitutional, the reaction from the right was immediate and predictable:
She was appointed by Jimmy Carter.
And today we get the official reaction from the ‘Decider’ himself:
I would say that those who herald this decision simply do not understand the nature of the world in which we live.
Unfortunately, we understand all too well…we now live in a world where the Constitution is simply a piece of paper and the rule of law only applies to oral sex.
But of course Bush didn’t stop there. What would a presidential press briefing be without lies and fearmongering?
He went on to say that:
You might remember last week working with the — with people in Great Britain, we disrupted a plot. People were trying to come and kill people.
Who is this “we”? Last week he said:
I want to thank the government of Tony Blair and officials in the United Kingdom for their good work in busting this plot.
But today “we” disrupted the plot. And it should be pointed out that people were not “trying to come and kill people,” because the suspects were British nationals and were already there. Perhaps a subtle attempt to imply that “Macaca’s” were coming to Great Britain, since the alternative puts lie to the old, “fighting them there so we don’t have to fight them here” spiel.
And then:
This country of ours is at war, and we must give those whose responsibility it is to protect the United States the tools necessary to protect this country in a time of war.
And naturally he is the one who not only needs these tools, but decides what they are, the law be damned. Remember what Bush said when the domestic spy story first broke?
But also…and we, and I looked and I said look, is it possible to conduct this program under the old law and people said it doesn’t work in order to be able to do the job we expect us to do. And so that’s why I made the decision I made.
He flat-out admitted that he didn’t like the law as written so he broke it. Period. Why he isn’t called out on this simple fact boggles the mind, but I digress.
He then moved into the standard fearmongering, you’re enabling the terrorist portion of the show:
I made my position clear about this war on terror. And by the way, the enemy made their position clear yet again when we were able to stop them. And I — the American people expect us to protect them, and therefore I put this program in place. We believe — strongly believe it’s constitutional.
Translation?
- Stay the course
- Don’t give into the terrorist’s demands
- I am the ‘decider,’ not the law
- Trust me
He finished up with:
And if al Qaeda is calling in to the United States, we want to know why they’re calling. And so I made my position clear. It would be interesting to see what other policymakers — how other policymakers react.
A few things here…no one is saying that terrorists shouldn’t be tracked down. No one. We want him to uphold the Constitution and follow the law. As with the obvious fact that Bush admitted he broke the law, it would be refreshing for the media to point this out rather than dutifully repeating this strawman. And finally, given the all-out campaign by the administration and the GOP to once again paint the Democrats as weak on terrorism, I have no doubt that he is interested in hearing the reactions from our side. Not because he is actually interested in other viewpoints of course, but because he needs more ammo to once again say that Democrats are waving:
…a white flag in the war on terror.
Really, Mr. Bush, we understand you completely. And fortunately for the future of our country and the world, the American people are finally waking up and understanding you too.