I am not sure I understand.
Let me see if I have this right.
George Bush's lawyers are telling me that Bill Clinton lawyers screwed up.
If I follow that logic the President Bush is using on Domestic Spying, the advice to Bill Clinton should have been something like:
Put a document in your files that notes we have troops dying in Somalia, troops being fired on in the no fly zone of Iraq and troops at risk in Bosnia. Since Bill Clinton is a War Powers President, he can rewrite statutory law. So, henceforth, perjury in civil law suits are a distraction to the President that we cannot allow in war times. A President can lie under oath with no legal recourse.
Perjury statutes were passed by the same Congress and in the same manner that Congress passed the FISA law. Once the President has the right to change statutory law with limited notification, the President can pick which laws can be changed with a secret directive.
Further, since it might alert the enemy that the President is not being distracted by this activity, we are going to declare that changing the perjury law for the President is a secret of National Security.
President Clinton should have had his National Security Advisor share the memo with about 8 people from Congress, and also tell them that if they share this information with anyone, it would result in their being arrested. Once they have been told, Clinton could later tell the world he informed Congress.
Next, President Clinton should have had the Justice Department declared that since Kenneth Star was attacking the Office of the President and since he is not a member of a regular approved army, Ken Starr is an enemy combatant. Send him down to Guantanamo and have him waterboarded regularly.
President Bush seems to be very impressed that his lawyers tell him that the courts will agree with their interpretation of the Statutes and the Constitution. I am less impressed. Last time I looked, exactly half the lawyers were wrong when the judges decides. I will be more impressed when a judge has agreed with his lawyers.
President Bush is claimimg a pretty powerful "Get Out of Jail Free" card. Somehow I have a feeling that a Republican Congress might find this an abuse of power if President Clinton had used this logic, but maybe I am wrong. Maybe I just don't understand. I am sure we will see soon enough.
George Bush's lawyers are telling me that Bill Clinton lawyers screwed up.
If I follow that logic the President Bush is using on Domestic Spying, the advice to Bill Clinton should have been something like:
Put a document in your files that notes we have troops dying in Somalia, troops being fired on in the no fly zone of Iraq and troops at risk in Bosnia. Since Bill Clinton is a War Powers President, he can rewrite statutory law. So, henceforth, perjury in civil law suits are a distraction to the President that we cannot allow in war times. A President can lie under oath with no legal recourse.
Perjury statutes were passed by the same Congress and in the same manner that Congress passed the FISA law. Once the President has the right to change statutory law with limited notification, the President can pick which laws can be changed with a secret directive.
Further, since it might alert the enemy that the President is not being distracted by this activity, we are going to declare that changing the perjury law for the President is a secret of National Security.
President Clinton should have had his National Security Advisor share the memo with about 8 people from Congress, and also tell them that if they share this information with anyone, it would result in their being arrested. Once they have been told, Clinton could later tell the world he informed Congress.
Next, President Clinton should have had the Justice Department declared that since Kenneth Star was attacking the Office of the President and since he is not a member of a regular approved army, Ken Starr is an enemy combatant. Send him down to Guantanamo and have him waterboarded regularly.
President Bush seems to be very impressed that his lawyers tell him that the courts will agree with their interpretation of the Statutes and the Constitution. I am less impressed. Last time I looked, exactly half the lawyers were wrong when the judges decides. I will be more impressed when a judge has agreed with his lawyers.
President Bush is claimimg a pretty powerful "Get Out of Jail Free" card. Somehow I have a feeling that a Republican Congress might find this an abuse of power if President Clinton had used this logic, but maybe I am wrong. Maybe I just don't understand. I am sure we will see soon enough.
posted by Philip Johnson | 12:16 AM
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