Goddamned
Piece Of Paper!
By Dave Lindorff
12-15-5
So, according to a report by Doug Thompson, editor of the journal Capital Hill Blue, three stalwart Republican congress members who had gone to see President Bush the lesser in his White House digs to advise against passage of the new version of the oxymoronically named USA PATRIOT Act were treated to an angry shout of "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face! It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"
This coming from a man who twice swore on the Bible he claims to live by that he would "uphold and defend the Constitution."
This from a man who said that he would make "strict adherence to the Constitution" the key requirement for his nominees to the US Supreme Court.
What a sad joke this buffoon in the White House has proven to be.
What a dangerous buffoon, too.
For after his initial outburst, the president had some more choice words to his loyal, if questioning, Congressional colleagues. When one of them warned that his push for more police state powers in new version of the ham-fisted legislation that Congress initially passed in the wake of the 9-11 attacks might alienate some of his conservative backers, the president shouted, "I don't give a goddamn: I'm the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way."
Here's a real danger.
The role of commander-in-chief is expressly explained in the Constitution as referring to the president's position as top officer of the nation's military. That is an important provision, because it is essential that a civilian have final control over even the highest general if a democracy is to survive. But the title commander-in-chief has no relevance with the respect to the rest of society. The president, according to the Constitution, is not commander-in-chief of the Congress, or of the administration, or of you or me. He's just the president, and in three more years, or whenever he's impeached, he'll be gone.
Unless, of course, the Constitution is "just a goddamned piece of paper."
Then all bets are off.
http://thiscantbehappening.net
