Leahy: Bush administration's lawlessness worse than Nixon’s

[bigtree]

The Hill
June 27, 2007

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) criticized the Bush administration Wednesday and indicated it is disregarding the law more flagrantly than the Nixon administration.

“Certainly not since I’ve been old enough to vote have we had an administration so willing to ignore the law,” the 67-year-old senator said. “I’ve never known an administration so willing to operate outside the law, even to operate against the law, in violation of the law, as this administration.”

Leahy, who issued four subpoenas for documents relating to the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program Wednesday, added that his committee has made nine requests for documents relating to the program but has been rebuffed by the administration each time. He dubbed the White House’s reluctance to cooperate a “pattern of evasion and misdirection.”

The senator added that that his committee has “not been getting the truth” and that if the administration continues to “stonewall” his investigation, “they should pay the penalty.”

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who, along with Leahy, has spearheaded the Judiciary Committee’s probe into the firing of several U.S. attorneys, joined the chairman in criticizing the administration.

“The vice president doesn’t know what branch of the government he’s in. The president doesn’t know what the Constitution is. And the people don’t know what the heck is going on,” Schumer said. “We're going to find out. One way or another, we are going to find out.”

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/leahy-bush-administrations-lawlessness-worse-than-nixons-2007-06-27.html

[AndyA]

1. “We're going to find out. One way or another, we are going to find out.”

See that you do. And then WHEN you do, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

Impeachment comes to mind. Indictments. Punishment for crimes against America and the world. That will be a good start.

[AndreaCG]

2. Duh! John Dean told us that 4 years ago.

[tbyg52]

4. Well, the wheels grind slowly....

Grrrrrr.....

I'm glad I finally read _A People's History of the United States_ for many reasons, but the one that applies to this thread is that I found out that it's been *almost* this bad before, and that it took people this long to catch on then, too.

Cold comfort, I know, but better than none, I guess.

[leftchick]

3. Impeachment is the only answer

perhaps Leahy should have a sit down with some of the House Dems and suggest they get things started. All of these subpoenas mean jack shit.

[bigtree]

5. why do you assume he's not thinking about that ultimate outcome?

it's a cinch that he is

[leftchick]

7. Why do you assume he is?

He certainly has not uttered the I word. None of them have except Dennis.

[bigtree]

9. Any of these obstructions by the WH could lead to that sort of confrontation

and Leahy usually follows through . . .

The senator added that that his committee has “not been getting the truth” and that if the administration continues to “stonewall” his investigation, “they should pay the penalty.”

[puebloknot]

22. "If"???? "...should pay the penalty"??? How about "will pay the penalty?"

And the sooner, the better. One excellent Constitutional way to achieve that is through impeachment for crimes already well documented.

It isn't a lack of evidence that keeps impeachment off the table. It's a lack of will.

And we need Leahy to *always* follow through in upholding his oath.

I'm waiting. I haven't given up hope yet.

[MissWaverly]

15. agree, this is like the 2004 recount

after all the money we collected, and all the hoops we jumped through, we were jerked around as the clock ran out, this is shaping
up the same way.

[Blaze Diem]

6. “they should pay the penalty" THEY GET IT !!!! Finally the feedback..

we have been waiting for.

Schumer put it so soundly..
“The vice president doesn’t know what branch of the government he’s in. The president doesn’t know what the Constitution is. And the people don’t know what the heck is going on,”


Current America..Simplified.

Now can we see a swift conclusion to this fu*king nightmare!!!

[PinkTiger]

8. And the first female president of United States will be

Nancy Pelosi.

[Blaze Diem]

13. ..but Pelosi only for a short time..meanwhile I WANT Bush et. al.

to suffer a lengthy nasty mess of legal shit to spend the next 10 years of their lives crawling out of before they are beat down and vilified publicly before the world and future history as it will someday be written. I want the TRUTH to be told and handed down for generations.
I want the Bush/Cheney crime families to be forever known for what they have always been..out this crap..sink in your teeth Sens. Waxman & Leahey and DON'T Let GO.

[AntiFascist]

12. Not only that, but....

listen to some of the right-wing pundits, who still have so much control over this Administration. They consider much of the Democratic Party to be an enemy to their agenda alongside of al Qaeda. Why else treat certain anti-war groups the way that they have? It should be obvious, the reason they don't want to cooperate in this investigation is because it would shed light onto the fact they want to spy on all Americans that they consider to be against their war agenda. Just like Nixon who felt that he was above the law when it came to spying on the Democratic Party, this Administration is no better and by all acounts is certainly far worse!!

[MADem]

10. He's right. But then, he remembers! nt

[bigtree]

11. “I came to the Senate during the ebb tide of Watergate . . .

. . . and Vietnam,” Leahy said.

“In my 32 years since then in the Senate, I have never seen a Congress so willfully derelict in its duties as during this Administration. This has been an unfortunate chapter in Congress’s history, a time when our Constitution was under assault, when our legal and human rights were weakened, when our privacy and other freedoms were eroded. This election was an intervention. The American people rose up to take away Congress’s rubber stamp, and to demand a new direction with more accountability.”

http://www.freepress.net/news/19873

[ejbr]

14. Schumer continues...

"...and when we find out, gosh darn it, we're going to put Lieberman on the case (I mean, we didn't refuse to support the Democratic nominee in Ct. for nothin!) He did a fantastic job in following up on the Katrina fiasco. And in a sign of bipartisanship, Lieberman is the best man to do the job. We also think he will help us keep impeachment off the table. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go figure out why one member of the minority party has more influence on the Iraq debate than the totality of the majority party."

It is amazing how quickly these numb nuts become outraged with these criminals! It's like watching mole asses!

[bigtree]

17. that would be assuming your diatribe contained a grain of truth

six months in the Majority and we have active, aggressive investigations in full swing, confronting the White House at their door. Conyers, Waxman, Leahy . . .

Sadly, I believe it's the strident criticisms of our Democrats for their reluctance to move to impeachment from so many quarters which has played a role in obscuring and downplaying the steady progress of these investigations.

[Joe Chi Minh]

19. I believe a lot of them are trolls, but I don't care which are and which

aren't. They both effectively meet Rove's dearest wishes. "Dearest" in the sense that the practicable options open to the neocons now are not exactly thick on the ground. They have to be grateful for whatever crumbs come their way.

[ejbr]

23. "Impeachment is off the table"

This is a BRILLIANT way to reign in Bush's lawlessness. The Dems are lame. Future U.S. presidential tyrants will one day thank them for giving license to subversion of our laws.


No grain of truth? Did the DLC publicly support Lamont in Ct.?(No) Did Lieberman pursue the missteps of Katrina?(No) Did the Democratic Congress press him on this?(No) Is Impeachment off the table?(Yes) Did the Dems not cave in to the Republicans, rather than their Democratic constituents, on the Iraq war funding?(Yes)

No, the problem is not their detractors or they would not have a lower approval rating than BUSH! The problem is people who coddle their bullshit showmanship as if they have proven to be people with the courage to finish what they start! I hope they finally put a stop to this madness, I really do. But their limited methods are not comforting to me. Subpoenas can be fought until the end of Bush's presidency, paving the way for more nonsense from these neandorthals until then. (Alberto Gonzales remains AG. This is acceptable??!)

Have a nice day.

[formercia]

16. They're finally beginning to say it openly.

we've been saying it for years.

[quinnox]

18. Nixon was a boyscout

compared to these clowns in office.

[ananda]

20. Once again.. talk is cheap.

Impeach.. prosecute.. just DO something.

Yapyapyap. I'm sick of it.

[bigtree]

21. this is something more than talk

and the portrayal of it as 'talk' is an amazing stretch, and an amazing surrender in and of itself to the administration's potential resistance of the action.

I'm 'sick' of that.

[Imagevision]

24. Rove's and his assistent's emails disappearing is worse then 18 minute gap from Watergate tapes

The email's cover the goings on at the 2004 election discrepencies in ohio