An Arrogance Of Power
That’s the title of David Ignatius’ column in this morning’s Washington Post. In his column, Ignatius claims that the White House refusal to report Cheney’s hunting accident constitutes an arrogance of power. This makes it official that Ignatius and like-minded ‘journalists’ are part and parcel of the lunatic fringe of the Denmocratic lynch mob…I mean Party. Here’s some of Ignatius’ ‘proof’:
Nobody died at Armstrong Ranch, but this incident reminds me a bit of Sen. Edward Kennedy’s delay in informing Massachusetts authorities about his role in the fatal automobile accident at Chappaquiddick in 1969. That story, and dozens of others about the Kennedy family, illustrates how wealthy, powerful people can behave as if they are above the law. For my generation, the fall of Richard Nixon is the ultimate allegory about how power can corrupt and destroy. It begins not with venality but with a sense of God-given mission.
Look at the images that Mr. Ignatius conjures up: Nixonian corruption, Chappaquiddick and the Kennedys being above the law. Where was Mr. Ignatius with his concern over Ted Kennedy’s scandal when Kennedy attempted to lecture Justice Alito on integrity and ethics?
When Pillar made similar warnings about Iraq at a private dinner in September 2004, the White House went ballistic, seeing Pillar as part of a CIA conspiracy to undermine the president’s policies. Soon after, Bush installed a former Republican congressman, Porter Goss, who began a purge at the agency that has driven out a generation of senior managers. Pillar and many, many others have retired, leaving the nation without some of its best intelligence officers when we need them most.
Are these terminated intelligence officers the distinguished people who said that finding WMD’s in Iraq? And the ones that successfully thwarted the 9/11 attacks, the bombing of the African embassies, the USS Cole and the Khobar Towers?
When critics question the legality of the administration’s actions, Bush and Cheney assert the commander in chief’s power under Article II of the Constitution. When Congress passes a law forbidding torture, the White House appends a signing statement insisting that Article II, the power of the commander in chief, trumps everything else. When the administration’s Republican friends suggest amending the wiretapping law to make its program legal, the administration refuses. Let’s say it plainly: This is the arrogance of power, and it has gone too far in the Bush White House.
How dare the President actually use his constitutional authorities to protect the people he’s charged with protecting. How dare he use those authorities without begging Congress to let him use those authorities. How dare this illegitimate President rely on the Constitution when making life-and-death decisions.
Cross-post at LetFreedomRing
February 15th, 2006 at 10:20 am
Speaking of the arrogance of power, has this Ignatius turkey taken a look at the MSM lately? If that’s not the arrogance of power incarnate, I don’t know what is!
Especially since that “power base”, the source where most citizens get there news, is eroding faster and faster as the blogospere comes more and more into its own.
People like Ignatius (and Mapes and Rather, etc.) have to learn someday that there are not only many evil people in the world, but that many of them wish us harm. It is that total lack of understanding on their part, the Ignatius’ of the world, that allows many of the debates rampant in our country today to continue.
To people like Dingy Harry (no paragon of virtue himself), it is simply politics. To the bin Ladens, it is ultimately a struggle between freedom and tyranny. The Reids, Kennedys, Schumers and A.C.L.U.-types are simply willing participants in our destruction.
February 15th, 2006 at 10:56 am
Get real! You guys won’t be satisfied until every home in America is wiretapped and every poor person is walking the streets—-get outta town!
February 15th, 2006 at 11:14 am
MEDIA WAITS CHENEY, WE AWAIT CHAPPAQUIDDICK
We know more about coveys and quails than we do about Chappaquiddick. How long did it take for the Clinton White House to say that Bill “fell down” at Greg Norman’s house in ‘97?
February 15th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Kennedy was driving with an expired driver’s license. That is a fact. His accident involved the death of a young woman. His first, second, and third actions were not first aid, calling 911 (or the hospital), and then making a report to the local police about the car accident.
Roger, no, only those “people” in the USA who are talking with the enemy may be “monitored” by the NSA, which is their job. The terrorists and illegal aliens need to be sent [outta town].
February 15th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
Roger L needs to brush up on his recent wiretap history. It was under the dispicable 42nd prez that unfettered wiretapping of in-country was happening, yet the ignorent libs and moonbats seem to see nothing wrong with that or, if they do, a simple “tut-tut” seems to be sufficient.
Actually, I think Roger L meant to say they would be happy only when every one of us nefarious conservatives is wiretapped will they be happy.
Double standard there, Roger L? Huh?