I agree that this crooked administration is going to do whatever they can to run out the clock, but good for Leahy for at least going after them.

If a constitutional crisis comes out of this (and really it's already here, and has been for years with this Administration -- it's just that only now is the Congress doing anything about it, or trying, anyway; the GOP were too busy cheerleading from the sidelines to do their jobs, back when they had the majority), my worry is the ideologically-skewed and politically-tainted Supreme Court majority will side with the Executive on these and other matters, given their heavily biased attitudes in favor of Bush-style Banana Republican presidenting.

Speaking of banana republics, I sure hope nobody sends Leahy any more anthrax-by-mail. They never did catch who did that. Creeps.

So, is Dick Cheney then the fourth branch of government, as laid out in the Constitution? Oh, wait, there's nothing about a fourth branch of government in the Constitution, now is there? Nope. A government of men, not laws, after all, eh, Dicky?

As it stands, the Office of the Vice Presidency appears to have established itself as such, without any checks and balances to restrain it (oh, except im-fucking-peachment).

I'd love to see the legal schemings of the GOP jackbooters who laid this out, realized that Dick could be the master of the shadow government, with Bush providing him cover and a convenient get-out-of-jail-free card with a pardon, if things got too hot. Bush provides the face of the Executive Branch, the what-me-worry bogus point man, while Cheney works it all behind the scenes.

It makes sense why the GOP were working so hard to overturn the electoral system in this country by way of voter suppression and intimidation, gerrymandering, ballot miscounts, actual voter fraud, etc. etc. -- if they were able to keep the GOP in power, nobody would have challenged this unconstitutional Fourth Branch concept of shadow government they set up. Once they finished sewing up the Justice Department and the Judiciary, it would've been a done deal. The Permanent Majority(tm) in place.

Good thing the mainstream media was on it, eh (rolling eyes). As I've said a time or two before, what we're experiencing is Watergate In Reverse -- where the Press aid and abet the criminality of a rogue administration, instead of uncovering it and holding their feet to the fire.

Mr. Grieve wrote...

Fielding said that the White House's refusal to comply with the subpoenas rests on a "bedrock presidential prerogative: for the president to perform his constitutional duties, it is imperative that he receive candid and unfettered advice and that free and open discussions and deliberations occur among his advisors and between those advisors and others within and outside the executive branch."

In other words, in order to uphold the Constitution, President Bush and Co-President Cheney must destroy it. This is ridiculous.

Congress needs to bring this imperial presidency to heel, and fast. If they knuckle under on this, then it really is time for them to pack up and go home, and shut down the Legislative Branch of government.

And if the Republican members won't help do their own constitutional duties, then they'll pay for it in 2008, assuming The Leader lets elections proceed. At this rate, given their staggering contempt for law, responsibility, accountability, and checks and balances, anything's possible, here.

Time to crack knuckles and go after them, Congress. At least force the GOP to side with this imperial administration, so they can take that back home to their constituencies and pay for it at the polls.

Great piece, Mr. Blumenthal!

Cheney and his aides have cynically crafted a fourth branch of government, and given Cheney a singular role, perhaps akin to that of a Prime Minister, with President Bush as figurehead monarch. And a powerful Prime Minister Cheney has become, hasn't he? Yes, indeed.

The problem with this shadowy arrangement is that there is no such position in our government -- we aren't a monarchy, and Cheney's not the Prime Minister, nor is he allowed to be.

He is (and not for the first time) operating unlawfully. So, yes, no wonder everything's vaulted away, and secrecy is the norm in his conduct of operations. Coups have to be carried out carefully, secretly, for them to fly. We're in Year Zero, where they make up the rules as they go along, with the rule being a simple one:

Dick Cheney rules.

We have a constitutional crisis at last recognized by enough people, I think, to get what's going on, here. My biggest fear is what Congress will or will not do as it confronts this Fourth Branch of government, this shadow government established by Dick Cheney.

Glad he's getting a fresh pacemaker (and at taxpayer expense, no less). He's going to need it, at the rate he's going. I wonder how the country will function without him. I'm sure he'll leave Bush plenty of marching orders. Too bad he hasn't given himself the power to dissolve Congress, yet, eh? Let's just hope Congress bares its teeth and goes after him, and doesn't meekly roll over and play dead.