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Chamba didn't send in commentary notes for today's
edition of Rabble Rousing prior to going on the air. But he did
send this article, so I'll post it here.
Source: The Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-daou/
how-far-will-bush-support_b_12770.html
'How far will Bush supporters go?'
Peter Daou, The
Huffington Post
how far will Bush supporters go in their allegiance to him? How
far will they follow Bush and Cheney down the road to absolute
executive power?
"Virtually no serious Bush defenders claim any longer that
the Administration's warrantless eavesdropping on American
citizens was authorized by FISA.
To the contrary, FISA expressly prohibited such surveillance.
Thus, to defend George Bush they must literally claim that the
President has the right during "wartime" to
violate Congressional statutes which relate to national
security."
the unavoidable question becomes: "If a theory of limitless
Executive power is not what Bush defenders are advocating, then
it is incumbent upon them to articulate what limitations
they believe exist on Presidential power in times of undeclared
war. What is it that courts or Congress can do, if
anything, to serve as a check on these powers?"
Giving allowance to partisan loyalty, ideology and the natural
tendency to stick up for "their guy," one still has to
wonder if there's ANY limit to this blind support for Bush. The
obvious thing to do, then, is to ask if there's been any
occasion where Bush's supporters have substantively and publicly
differed with him. And the first situation that comes to mind is
the Harriet Miers nomination.
But what's scary about this signature defection by his hardcore
supporters is that they excoriated him not for going too far,
but for not going far enough.
So perhaps the domestic spying scandal is the proverbial straw
that breaks the camel's back?
Not by a long shot -- even though it would be logical to assume
so. Setting aside the legal
intricacies and the abstruse arguments
being made by Bush's legal apologists in support of his actions,
two questions about this story should trouble all Americans:
1. If the current law wasn't adequate to protect us, why not try
to change it rather than circumvent it?
2. Why go around claiming you were using FISA when you weren't?
(Thursday's Hardball had a series of clips showing Bush flatly
stating that FISA was being strictly adhered to when it
obviously wasn't.)
Circumventing the law on a matter of national security (for
whatever allegedly noble purpose) and lying about it are grave
matters. But don't hold your breath waiting for mass defections;
the vast majority of Bush's blog supporters, rightwing pundits,
and Republican surrogates are out there standing up for Bush,
attacking those who question the constitutionality of his
actions.
As this story takes its expected
course, it appears there's a simple -
albeit jarring - answer to the question of how far Bush's
supporters will go: they'll go as far as he wants them to. And
we're beginning to see how far that is.
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