Is the Prseident AKA Vito Corleone?

Good job Kelly O’Donnell of NBC News, for asking the tough questions, the right questions, the appropriate questions. And still, the President started his infamous “duck and weave routine”. He looked to me like a guilty person, but who knows? By the way, does this constitute a high crime or misdemeanor?

Lawyers and historians are still arguing about the exact meaning of "high crimes and misdemeanors," dividing into three schools of thought about the appropriate definition: (1) serious criminality evidenced by breaking existing law; (2) an abuse of office, and (3) the Alexander Hamilton standard (Federalist 65) of "violation of public trust."

Regardless, here is a transcript of the O’Donnel/Bush dialogue.

Q: There’s been some very dramatic testimony before the Senate this week from one of your former top Justice Department officials who describes a scene that some Senators called stunning, about a time when the warrantless wiretap program was being reviewed. Sir, did you send your then chief of staff and White House counsel to the bedside of John Ashcroft while he was ill to get him to approve that program, and do you believe that kind of conduct from White House officials is appropriate?

BUSH: Kelly, there’s a lot of speculation about what happened and what didn’t happen. I’m not going to talk about it. It’s a very sensitive program. I will tell you that one, the program was necessary to protect the American people and it’s still necessary, because there’s still an enemy that wants to do us harm, and therefore I have an obligation to put in place programs that honor the civil liberties of the American people — a program that was, in this case, constantly reviewed, and briefed to the United States Congress. And the program, as I say, is an essential part of protecting this country, and so there will be all kinds of talk about it. As i say, I’m not going to move the issue forward by talking about something as highly classified subject. I will tell you, however, that the program was necessary. (weave...duck)

Q: Was it on your order, sir?

BUSH: As I said, the program is a necessary program that was constantly reviewed and constantly briefed to the Congress. It’s an important part of protecting the United States, and it’s still an important part of our protection, because there’s still an enemy that would like to attack us, no matter how calm it may seem in America, an enemy lurks and they would like to strike. They would like to do harm to the American people, because they have an agenda. They want to impose an ideology. They want us to retreat from the world. They want to find safe haven, and these just aren’t empty words. These are the words of al Qaeda themselves, and so we will put in place programs to protect the American people that honor the civil liberties of our people and programs that we constantly brief to Congress.

DUCK…DUCK…WEAVE…DUCK

Come on Mr. President, just be honest for a change. Did you send Gonzales and Card to Ashcroft’s room like Vito Corleone would have?
I can only hope we don’t discover a horse’s head in Mr. Comey’s bed.

Spies Like The U.S.

Spies Like U.S.
One would think that the testimony by James B. Comey (former deputy attorney general) an excerpt from a Mickey Spillane novel. Evidently Mr. Comey appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of the inquiry into “Gonzogate”, (Alberto Gonzales investigation and dismissal of federal prosecutors).

Mr. Comey who was second in command in the Justice Department testified that that the eavesdropping program was center to a series of events involving Alberto Gonzales, Comey, John Ashcroft, and Andrew Card.

Mr. Comey stated (acting as attorney general because Mr. Ashcroft had been hospitalized for emergency gallbladder surgery in 2004) that he refused to sign off on a presidential order reauthorizing a program which allowed monitoring of international telephone calls and email of people inside the United States who were suspected of having terrorist ties. He further stated that the events took place over a 48 hour time span.

Here is a synopsis of events:

Evening of March 10, 2004:

Although Mrs. Ashcroft had banned visitors and telephone calls to her husband’s hospital room, she had just gotten a call from the White House telling her that Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales were on their way to see her husband, Mr. Comey testified. “I have some recollection that the call was from the president himself, but I don’t know that for sure,” Mr. Comey said.

A top aide to Mr. Ashcroft calls to alert Mr. Comey about the pending visit of Mr. Gonzales and Andrew H. Card Jr. Mr. Comey orders his driver to rush him to George Washington University Hospital with emergency lights flashing and siren blaring, with intentions of intercepting the pair. The pair were seeking Ashcroft’s signature because of impending expiration of authority the following day.

Mr. Comey phoned Director Robert S. Mueller III of the FBI, who agreed to meet him at the hospital.

When he got to the hospital, Mr. Comey recalled, “I got out of the car and ran up — literally, ran up the stairs with my security detail.”
“I was concerned that, given how ill I knew the attorney general was, that there might be an effort to ask him to overrule me when he was in no condition to do that,”

Upon arriving to Mr. Ashcroft’s room, Mr. Comey noted that Mr. Ashcroft seemed out of it, I think his word were “hardly aware of his surroundings”.

During this time, Mr. Mueller phoned Mr. Comey’s security detail and ordered them to not all Mr. Comey to be removed from the room under any circumstances.

A few minutes after this order, Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card entered Mr. Ashcroft’s room; Mr. Gonzales was carrying an envelope. Mr. Gonzales then began to discuss why they were there, and asked for Mr. Ashcroft’s approval.

Mr. Comey then testified that Mr. Ashcroft raised his head from the pillow, reiterated his objections to the program, then lay back down, pointing to Mr. Comey and stated it did not matter, because Mr. Comey was the attorney general.

Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card left the room, never making eye contact with Mr. Comey. But within a few minutes, Mr. Card telephoned Mr. Comey and demanded that he come to the White House immediately.

Mr. Comey replied to Mr. Card “After what I just witnessed, I will not meet you without a witness, and I intend that witness to be the solicitor general of the United States.”

Theodore Olson (solicitor general) was contacted by Mr. Comey and arranged to go with him to the White House. Mr. Card refused to allow Mr. Olson enter his office, after a private chat with Mr. Card, Mr. Olson was allowed to enter the office and take part in the conversation.
Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Comey and Mr. Mueller all threatened to resign over this incident.

Two to three weeks afterwards, the reauthorization was signed.

This seems to resemble strong arm tactics once seen in the mob or in gangster movies. And yet, the President allows Gonzales to continue in his position as Attorney General. This is bizarre and shameful. What happened to honesty in the White House?
Are You Kidding Me?