WTF?

From ABC News:

Vice President Dick Cheney has asserted his office is not a part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, and therefore not bound by a presidential order governing the protection of classified information by government agencies, according to a new letter from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to Cheney.

(Hat tip: Political Wire)

Comments

[robespierre]

It won't be long before Cheney gets the boot.

[RobH]

WTF, Indeed! WTF does he think his office is part of?

[Rich Miles]

Jesus Christ.

Can there any longer be any doubt that this man is completely and utterly mad?

I mean, c'mon - this is no longer a Dem vs. Rep thing. He's nuts, absolutely and totally deranged.

Surely the wingnuts can no longer defend him? Surely not?

[bluegrassguy77]

I wonder what the implications of the VP being the President of the Senate is? It seems that the office does play a dual role because of this. If he can vote in the Senate, which does occur during 50-50 ties, then there may be something to this, though how do you seperate the exec. role of the VP from the legislative?

[BH]

Bluegrassguy77, I was about to make the same point as you. One could make the argument that the only role the Constitution gives the VP is to preside over the Senate.

[robespierre]

OK, say he's just president of the Senate and nothing else. That means every time he has claimed executive privilege and/or claimed executive access to classified national security material, he has broken the law.

Conclusion: Cheney's a fucked duck.

[Rich Miles]

From today's WaPo on this matter:

...Vice President Cheney's office has refused to comply with an executive order governing the handling of classified information for the past four years and recently tried to abolish the office that sought to enforce those rules, according to documents released by a congressional committee yesterday.

Since 2003, the vice president's staff has not cooperated with an office at the National Archives and Records Administration charged with making sure the executive branch protects classified information. Cheney aides have not filed reports on their possession of classified data and at one point blocked an inspection of their office. After the Archives office pressed the matter, the documents say, Cheney's staff this year proposed eliminating it.

To all the right-wingnuts who visit and occasionally comment on this site (and tangentially to robespierre, who thinks Cheney will soon "get the boot"):

Where do we go from here? I mean, is this just OK with you, that this sort of lawlessness in the highest offices of our land go not only unpunished but virtually unremarked?

Will Pres. Bush call Cheney down on this, and fire him if he refuses to comply?

Will the Gonzales Justice Dept. cite him, and charge him if he refuses yet again to comply with the law?

Will the stacked Supreme Court find constitutional fault with his recalcitrance?

Or will the just-barely-Democratic Congress find the votes, or more to the point the political courage to impeach an Executive Branch official who flaunts the law in this way?

Where do we, the people, go for redress when our leaders are not only lawbreakers but flagrant and admitted lawbreakers, who protect each other at the grave expense of our democracy?

This is the box that the Bush administration has built for our country: they have so successfully loaded our government and our courts with their friends and fellow-travelers that there IS no redress. Cheney will almost certainly NOT be called to task for this unconscionable breaking of the law, and no one can do anything about it.

And some folks, mostly right-wing nutcases who seem incapable of seeing what damage is being done to America and Americans on a daily basis, but also a few people who see themselves as "thinkers", think that's just A-OK. They think it will never backfire on them, and that the government that takes their civil rights from them is "protecting" them by doing so. They never seem to imagine what it would be like if some of these "protections" were used AGAINST them.

And so our nation sinks ever lower into the pit of despotism, and there are still folks who cheer the descent and those who are taking us there.

Seriously, folks, you on the right who think all this is OK: do you really want this - lawbreakers in positions of power - to be America's message to the world? Never mind, I fear your answer would only depress me further.

In closing, let me offer this from Salon's Glenn Greenwald. Yes, he's a liberal - but that doesn't make him wrong. At least not automatically. If you still think Bush is a strong and steadfast and righteous leader, read this, with at least a half-open mind. See if there isn't something you can learn from it.

A tragic legacy: How a good vs. evil mentality destroyed the Bush presidency

The America Bush has created is NOT the America I grew up in, and is most assuredly not the America I wish to die in.

[Wyatt Earl]

What Rich said...

[Dean]

Rich,

Of course the wacko Republicans will support Cheney on this. These lunatics will support Dubya and his minions all the way to Hell and whistle a happy tune as they step into the flames. Lawlessness is perfectly fine as long as it is a Republican doing it.

I think that the Dems should jump on this. If he isn't part of the Exec Branch then every time he has claimed executive privilege or access he was wrong and now he should be fair political game.

Impeach and arrest this fu--er Cheney and make a political example to him for all the lunatic Republicans to see.

[Dean]

Sorry.

"example of him" and not "example to him".

[anotherNKYdem]

further proof that Dick Cheney is Darth Vader, apologies to James Earl Jones' voice