Caveat Emptor:
I was not aware that this source could have credibility issues when I posted this dairy. I apologize for not sourcing this more completely. I did however see this source posted on some other prominent blogs, so I decided then to create this diary.
I know I am preaching to the choir but this really has caused me great consternation and significant amounts of concern that the President of the United States views our Constitution as just a goddamned piece of paper.
Doug Thompson can give you far greater insights than I can, yet I wanted to put forth my own views too.
I personally find the Patriot Act the most significant piece of civil rights violating law within my lifetime. It is onerous, egregious and violates every tenet that I have believed in concerning our rights as US citizens.
This act does one thing and one thing only, it increases the power of the Executive Branch to the detriment of the other two branches of our Government. I believe that GW Bush and his culture of corruption walking parade of neoCon Fascists have one clearly defined goal in mind. They want to circumvent the US Constitution and create a fascist state run by Theocrats and Oligarchies to the detriment of the rest of US society.
I can only hope that each and everyone of you who read this will let others know just what the Presnit who currently occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, thinks of our Beloved Constitution.
Bush on the Constitution: ‘It’s just a goddamned piece of paper’
By DOUG THOMPSON
Dec 9, 2005, 07:53
Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act.
Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal.
GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”
“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”
emphasis mine
I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.”
And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the shit that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that “goddamned piece of paper” used to guarantee.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while still White House counsel, wrote that the “Constitution is an outdated document.”
Put aside, for a moment, political affiliation or personal beliefs. It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent. It doesn’t matter if you support the invasion or Iraq or not. Despite our differences, the Constitution has stood for two centuries as the defining document of our government, the final source to determine – in the end – if something is legal or right.
Every federal official – including the President – who takes an oath of office swears to “uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says he cringes when someone calls the Constitution a “living document.”“”Oh, how I hate the phrase we have–a ‘living document,'” Scalia says. “We now have a Constitution that means whatever we want it to mean. The Constitution is not a living organism, for Pete’s sake.”
As a judge, Scalia says, “I don’t have to prove that the Constitution is perfect; I just have to prove that it’s better than anything else.”
President Bush has proposed seven amendments to the Constitution over the last five years, including a controversial amendment to define marriage as a “union between a man and woman.” Members of Congress have proposed some 11,000 amendments over the last decade, ranging from repeal of the right to bear arms to a Constitutional ban on abortion.
Scalia says the danger of tinkering with the Constitution comes from a loss of rights.
“We can take away rights just as we can grant new ones,” Scalia warns. “Don’t think that it’s a one-way street.”And don’t buy the White House hype that the USA Patriot Act is a necessary tool to fight terrorism. It is a dangerous law that infringes on the rights of every American citizen and, as one brave aide told President Bush, something that undermines the Constitution of the United States.
But why should Bush care? After all, the Constitution is just “a goddamned piece of paper.”
really read.
Reading is hard work. There’s bicycling to be done!
Besides, it has no pictures, like “My Pet Goat.”
Besides, there’s no big purty pictures.
Link please?
Doug Thompson
This is precisely the reason why I got involved in politics. It became apparent to me that this administration had no regard for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, that ir regarded the United States as a nation of men and not a nation of laws, and as long as they hold the reins, no one and nothing is safe. Even so, if this is verifiable, it is astounding to hear the man who should be the leader in the fight to uphold the Constitution — a man who has in fact sworn twice upon a Bible in which he professes to believe to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution — say so in front of $DEITY and everybody.
It also is apparent, however, that if they ever get out of power, the fact that they have discarded the Constitution and the Bill of Rights means they can’t expect to fall back on them should they ever need to. We may give them those rights they have denied to others, but they can’t expect it.
[NOTE: cross-posted @ PoliticalCortex]
“. . . and he stamped his foot so hard into the ground that his whole leg went in. He then was so angry that he pulled so hard to get his leg out and he split himself in two then disappeared!” [Rumpelstiltskin]
Life imitates art.
need I say more of our Cammander incompetant?
I thought Batshit Loopy couldn’t shock me anymore.
I thought that this administration had done so many heinous things (the topper for me being the enshrinement of preemptive war in American foreign policy) that I had become shock proof, but “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!” ?
Why is this man still in office ?
Why hasn’t he been impeached ?
JUST A GODDAMNED PIECE OF PAPER ????
And why are so many GD Rpublicans ready to follow him into the bowels of the earth? And of course, the Democrats aren’t too far behind. Why is Jack Murtha standing pretty much alone in calling the administration on any of this shit?
Why can’t any of the elected just do the right thing and call for his impeachment? Do they no longer know the difference between right and wrong?
The Washington Post points out that:
(Not that using these tactics is okay on anyone, but that they are reading the right to use them into the Constitution is insane.)
The world we are living in is not at all the world we are used to, it seems.
It’s important to remember that the Defense and Security departments are gearing up new initiatives for domestic surveillance on us. They will have no trouble calling normal dissent a threat to their security and quieting dissenters one way or another.
Considering the way they “interpret” the Bible, is it any wonder they can’t handle the constitution either? š
I was going to comment that the Fundies want to only tweak it up to Biblical Inerrancy standards. Maybe I should work on a counter-argument that would base standards on Constitutional Inerrancy instead.
If this statement has been confirmed by three witnesses, one wonders where our nation’s journalists are hiding these days?? Old news? Librul smear campaign??
Imagine the media firestorm if (heaven forbid!) some Democratic leader, (Clinton for example) had said those words!!
.
is just a goddam bundle pieces of paper.
“I can’t explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen, and, at that time, my country is going to need me. I know it won’t be easy, on me or my family, but God wants me to do it.”
“I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well.”
Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2001
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
If that quote and his picture are not together on a t-shirt already, we should start the move to get them out there. It sums up his presidency.
there is no attribution or link for this piece, but i know it to be from capitol hill blue.
now, i’m one to eat up juicy gossip as much as the next guy, but chb is famous (or infamous) for dealing in just that…gossip. there are allegedly three “sources” who witnessed this scene and told doug thompson. yet thompson doesn’t name any one of the three.
of course, it’s easy to imagine bush saying and doing this. but let’s keep a finger on reality here…one thing that separates our side from the freepers is our insistence on facts and truth…and all i’m saying is, there is nothing in reality to indicate this story, while plausible, has much of either to it.
as i’ve said else where, capitol hill blue is only slightly more reputable than weekly world news.
Damn, what a time to throw the integrity wrench in the gears.
Before this site becomes DailyKos, I suggest laying off repeating stuff from Capital Hill Blue.
this person had any credibility issues, but if that is so, then I will look for other credible sources before posting anything like this again.
My apologies for not further investigating this before creating this diary.
I think a case could be made for anybody having credibility issues and the use of anonymous sources is far too common by too many. I wouldn’t get too distraught about the credibility issue on this. There’s not that much difference between Thompson and most of the rest of them in a broad sense.
Whatever the content of the diary or the credibility of the sources (questionable or not), I found this most worthwhile just for the sheer pleasure of seeing a much beloved writer back on the site.
Source credibility? pfffft ;^)
Seeing Ghostdancer’s Way on the reco list again? Priceless.
as the entire organ of capitol hill blue.
Good diary, but we have to take this source with a grain of salt. This person is very gullible; he once let a man dupe him for over 20 years before he finally caught on.
It may very well reflect Bush’s feelings about the Constitution, but we would need better sources before we confirm that this outburst actually took place.
The problem is that Capitol Hill Blue relies almost exclusively on anonymous sources; how do we know Rove is not planting stuff in order to discredit the media and provide cover for the real scandals that Bush is engaging in?
I respect your opinion of standards in what to use or not use but that’s why they always win.
If one fights fair against one who doesn’t, the one who doesn’t fight fair will have the advantage and generally come out ahead.
I’d respect the advice to avoid this story here more if it was based on potential legal liability rather than ethics.
MLK, Gandhi, and Mother Teresa always fought fair. The biggest weapon Rove has is fear. If we can show people how to vote their hopes and not their fears, then we can overcome that.
Keep in mind that during the 1960 election, there was a similar swift-boat style attack against JFK. The attack was that he would have dual loyalties to Rome and the US, because he was Catholic. But he inspired enough people to vote their hopes that he was able to overcome that.
The majority of people will believe what they hear most, not what they hear best.
GWB is now chastising reporters, opponents and dissenters for trying to rewrite the history of how we got into Iraq.
We can’t have honest discussions about most topics because the truth is never actually considered. Not many people will take an honest look at election system fraud and manipulation but discuss to excess why Democrats always lose. We can’t discuss the problems in Iraq that pertain to Israel’s influence. Meanwhile, the manipulation continues on the other side.
I’m all for honesty and integrity in political matters but ‘moral victories’ are still just another loss.
What good is it to stand by principles that get lost when they’re compromised by our elected leaders ….the ones on our side?
I can do that but if we all do that then nothing will change.
You’re probably right. I’d rather lose my freedom and maintain principle than the other way around.
The struggle wears thin after a while and it’s easy for me to fall into easier shortcuts.
is becoming more and more evident by the day. The likely renewal of the Patriot Act being but one of numerous examples confirming that.
we know in our hearts this is true to the administration, but….
our legal minds should tell us to proceed with caution upon action without proof, I beleive it could be a trap, afterall…06 is just a few days away, tread lightly ; )
wado my friend, keep the light on your path,
I understand that some of these sources aren’t exactly reliable either but I thought these might be interesting to consider
Ok, here’s a good conflict of confidence example.
Other recent reports by Thompson include one by an anonymous DHS source that claims a memo stated the FAM overreacted in the shooting of the passenger the other day. It goes on to also claim that first accounts by witnesses do not back up claims that the man claimed to have a bomb.
If true, it would coincide with other evidence that maybe it was not a ‘justified’ (by procedure, not by my standards) killing of an innocent man.
Do we ignore this report/article?