Just advancing such a legal theorum should be grounds for impeachment.

This will play out, and I'll bet there will be some nasty surprises for the Bush administration down the road.

First, they will have the bad press surrounding contempt charges. Then they will have the bad press surrounding unitary executive assertions. Then they face the prospect that the US Attorney from DC will want no part of being this president's bitch, and might well challenge his authority. Ultimately, the courts will decide. And, as both the article and Glenn point out, Congress still has "inherent contempt" and impeachment in its quiver.

The only problem is that time is short. Bush will gum this thing to death, and it will end up being a footnote to the long dark chapter of his failed presidency. All things considered, we should be happy that his time in office is short, even if it means his legal smackdown won't come until after he leaves office.

As always, IOKIYAD.

Only you would dismiss this as nothing more than partisan posturing.

Its sad, really.

When he said:

“Sure your guilty conscience may make you vote Democratic but deep down you long for a cold hearted Republican bastard who will cut taxes, brutalize criminals and rule you like a King.”

That’s what Americas wanted (well around 48% of them who actually voted for Bush) and that’s what we’ve gotten.

Bush cut taxes (for the rich), brutalizes the terrorists (whether they’re terrorists or not he brutalizes them) and rules us like a King.

All hail King George.

It's a simple argument. If the President is all-powerful, then he can declare a State of Emergency and postpone elections. He can issue an Executive Order that makes himself Commander-in-Chief for life. He can appoint the next “President” and retire to his ranch. He can do whatever he wants that he argues is necessary for the prosecution of the war. He can confiscate all the resources of his opponents, per his July 17 EO, and crush anyone who complains. The Republic is over; the Democracy is over. The Dictator arises. History teaches us it has always been thus.

While I recognize that a strong authoritarian strain runs throughout the current presidency, I do think this is overstatement. Far more likely, the pernicious philosophy and spirit of the current regime will live on in the staffing of a new Republican president (if elected in '08) or in a swell in the ranks of think-tanks and other non-governmental institutions that exist to undermine Democrats in power, if a Democrat is elected president.

The pattern is clear: when neoconservatives fall out of office, they consolidate wealth and non-governmental power for a longer-term institutional countermovement. Their natural allies in the energy industries and military contracting sector provide very effective respites for reconsolidation of morale and organization, grooming of future leadership, and creation of "astroterf" political movements.

Before Nixon caved, Sirica was going to cite him for comtempt and fine him personally. His logic was the potential criminality involved outweighed any claims of privilege. The use of Executive Privilege was supposed to be extremely narrow and was only relevant to the info NOT under investigation. In other words, for a converstation that covered Vietnam and Watergate, the Vietnam part would be covered, the Watergate part wasn't. His big difficulty was separating those two parts. He relied the 1800 Aaron Burr treason case. This is all in his book about Watergate.

His book is very instructive, Glenn, you might want to check it out.

But how many times has the unthinkable already occurred during the last six years?

In my darkest moments, and only muttering to myself, I, too, have pondered whether there will be a "next election" in the USA. And based on a consideration of events during this past six years, I see no basis for considering this wild speculation.

Why, when you've had habeus stripped and been so publicly eavesdropped on? Why, when as Michael Harold put it so eloquently, your wars are no longer wars of self-defense, but criminal wars of aggression in the guise of self-defense? Why, after lying you into war in one country, they're now trying to lie their way into bombing another country.

Do you really mean to tell me that, after all that has happened, a 3+ term presidency is where you draw the line and finally cross into the realm of the unthinkable?

A key difference between the Nixon presidency and the current one is that the press did not like Nixon. So that when Nixon got in hot legal water, the press jumped on it. I remember sitting in front of the TV every night amazed at the new revelations.

Bush has gotten away with way more than Nixon could have in his wildest dreams, but if I didn't read the blogs, I'd never know about it. It's been a silent coup, aided and abetted by a silent or adoring press. The Dems ain't got no cajones, but I believe many of them don't read the blogs either and have no clue what's going on, nor do they have an outraged populace marching on their doorsteps to give them a backbone.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. A number of your letter writers' suggest that the election in 2008 will change things, with the assumption that an election will in fact occur. They are ignoring the warnings of Rick Santorum and Michael Chertoff, amongst others, who are predicting a further terrorist attack on the scale of 9/11. With the executive orders in place, Bush would be able to declare a defacto state of martial law, and bingo, no election.

Paul Craig Roberts, former Reagan era lawyer and heavyweight, has suggetsed that within the year, the US will be a police state, unless immediate action is taken to impeach Bush and Cheney.

Are all of your readers blithely waiting for a terror strike (likely self-inflicted) that will be a prelude to dictatorship in America?

You need to address the topic of 9/11 truth Glenn. It is the one way to open the eyes of the befuddled masses, and prevent what is seeming to be more and more inevitable. Peace and truth...Roberts' article below:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18037.htm