Thursday, May 18, 2006

When they're better than me I admit it

Catomakes a point I've tried to make in the past, only, not suprisingly, much better. Focus on:

"What I do know is that if Hillary is the next president, she’ll be able to lay claim to a number of vast, extraconstitutional powers championed by right-wingers like, uh, John Podhoretz. Among those powers is the ”inherent executive authority” to wiretap at will and, perhaps, to seize American citizens on American soil and hold them without charges for the duration of the war on terror — in other words, forever."

And:

"Over the last four and a half years, many of the same wailers and gnashers have cheer-led the concentration of unreviewable power in the executive branch, as if George W. Bush would be the last president ever to wield that power."

What everyone seems to forget is that America is a nation of law, not whim. When you give authority to a position, that position retains that authority regardless of whatever whim you may feel about who next holds that position. When the next guy or gal is on the seat, I'm curious if all those who trusted W with this authority, and warned against questioning the President in a time of war will feel the same way? Then I wonder if the horse will have already left the barn.

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