Presidential Crimes: Moving on is not an option. "In deciding about legal redress, we need to be clear about the large stakes in our decision. The very multiplicity of the apparent crimes, the sheer array of arguably broken laws, is dizzying. But that multiplicity must be faced, for in it we will see that what got in President Bush’s way was not any one law but the rule of law itself. It is the rule of law that has been put in jeopardy by a project of executive domination; it is the rule of law that will continue to be in peril; and it is only, therefore, by addressing the crimes through legal instruments—through a formal, legal arena, and not simply through the electoral repudiation of bad policy—that the grave and widespread damage stands a chance of being repaired."
posted by homunculus
on Sep 8, 2008 -
96 comments
"Only Nixon could go to China," and only
ex-Republican ex-Senator Lincoln Chafee can explain how George W. Bush set out "to preempt the Congress... on every issue", "turned his back on (his) bedrock campaign pledges", and become simultaneously America's most powerful and least popular President (and why there could never be a "surely this..." moment). NOT just another OMGBUSH commentary, this should be required reading for anybody who
honestly wants to know what went wrong.
posted by wendell
on May 2, 2008 -
46 comments
Tough talk about impeachment. A
public opinion poll from the American Research Group recently reported that more than four in ten Americans — 45% — favor impeachment hearings for President Bush and more than half — 54% — favored impeachment for Vice President Cheney.
In the video segment linked to here (available via javascript pop-up window from the main linked page), Bill Moyers gets perspective on the role of impeachment in American political life from Constitutional scholar
Bruce Fein, who wrote the first article of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, and THE NATION's
John Nichols, author of THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT. Transcript is available
here.
posted by psmealey
on Jul 16, 2007 -
179 comments
Cheyney the Torturer? According to
Dan Froomkin today, Lawrence Wilkerson (former chief of staff to the secretary of state) said that he had uncovered a "visible audit trail" tracing the practice of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers directly back to Vice President Cheney's office.
posted by shiska
on Nov 4, 2005 -
52 comments
The family trees of American politicians - There are those with
very long blue blood pedigrees, and there are those with
very short and unknown pedigrees. There are also some surprises, like a
certain Democratic senator and possible '08 Veep pick being somewhat closely related to the current
Veep, or that
certain ex-mayors have family trees that were apparently a bit inbred back in the old country. Other fun tidbits:
Newt Gingrich's father was illegitimate,
John Kerry is related to the rabbi who created the Golem of Prague,
Pat Buchanan is related to both FDR and Marilyn Manson, Wesley Clark's father was a
Kohan,
Martin Luther King was born Michael Louis King, and
Gary Hart was born Gary Hartpence, which was in turn derived from an ancestor named James Eberhart Pence. (more non-politicians
here)
posted by Asparagirl
on Oct 3, 2005 -
18 comments
Diagnosis via press release. Josh Marshall speculates on Dick Cheney's health based on a press release put out by a shoe store. The store says Cheney's feet have "changed to a size 10EEE". Swelling of the feet is a primary symptom of congestive heart failure.
posted by jpoulos
on Dec 2, 2004 -
33 comments
Bush camp solicits race of Star staffer. President Bush's re-election campaign insisted on knowing the race of an Arizona Daily Star journalist assigned to photograph Vice President Dick Cheney.
The jounalist's name was Mamta Popat. She sure
sounds like a terrorist.
posted by JeffK
on Jul 31, 2004 -
30 comments
Dear Mary, your father, recently said he would support adding anti-gay prejudice to the US Constitution, making you and millions of other Americans second-class citizens. As an open lesbian who has worked for years as a public advocate for gay civil rights, you are in a unique position to defend yourself and your community in this dire hour.
You're right, this is very personal.
posted by alms
on Feb 24, 2004 -
12 comments
Scalia Was Cheney Hunt Trip Guest; Ethics Concern Grows Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia traveled as an official guest of Vice President Dick Cheney on a small government jet that served as Air Force Two when the pair came here last month to hunt ducks.
The revelation cast further doubts about whether Scalia can be an impartial judge in Cheney's upcoming case before the Supreme Court, legal ethics experts said. The hunting trip took place just weeks after the high court agreed to take up Cheney's bid to keep secret the details of his energy policy task force.
posted by GernBlandston
on Feb 6, 2004 -
41 comments
Mary Cheney: "The next time you walk into a gay public place, be prepared for a chorus calling you everything from a quisling and a betrayer to a selfish, fiendish, nasty example of a human being." Michelangelo Signorile's open letter to the VP's gay daughter.
posted by archimago
on Jan 27, 2004 -
78 comments
Have You Seen This Man? Where is the Vice President of the United States? In the past, the VP was largely a non-actor; waiting in the wings for something bad to happen. However VP RC has hardly been that to President Bush. Is he "hiding," purely for security reasons, or is something else going on?
posted by ParisParamus
on Oct 18, 2001 -
12 comments
News You Can Use! IsDickCheneyDeadYet.com has more than three dedicated staffers who surreptitiously check the Veep’s vitals every five minutes, round the clock, 24 hours a day. Just so you can rest a little easier. Check back often and "
Be the first to know, when Cheney goes..."
posted by dogmatic
on Jul 12, 2001 -
6 comments
I still can't get over the fact that the U.S. President and Vice President have been arrested five times between them. For those keeping score, that's
2 DUIs for Cheney and one for Bush, and
two disorderly conducts for Bush.
I know, I know, many other presidents have committed far greater crimes, these were mistakes of youth, etc. etc.
But five arrests between them? Sigh.
posted by luser
on May 17, 2001 -
25 comments
We haven't had a
Salon link on the front page for a while, so I don't feel bad about
posting this one. Conserve energy the Dick Cheney way! [Warning: left-wing, liberal, tree-hugging, granola-eating, pinko, partisan parody. You don't
have to click if you don't like such stuff.]
posted by jpoulos
on May 10, 2001 -
1 comment
The first step in setting up a parallel government? "Republican vice-presidential candidate Dick Cheney said if the General Services Administration will not assist George W. Bush's transition to the White House, the campaign is prepared to go ahead on its own. 'We will proceed drawing on other sources,' Cheney told reporters in Washington on Monday." Yeah, I just bet they will.
posted by tranquileye
on Nov 27, 2000 -
18 comments
