Depress Conference

Bush’s press conference this morning was the usual abysmal affair. Tapped’s Sam Rosenfeld hits the high (and low) point:

The answers George W. Bush offered at this morning's press conference regarding domestic wiretapping confirm that the administration's substantive defense of the policy rests on the powers granted to him by the congressional authorization for the use of force against al Qaeda. The only possible inference one could make from such reasoning is that the administration interprets that authorization as giving it essentially limitless authority to circumvent U.S. law however it sees fit.

To his great, lasting credit, a journalist asked the president directly this morning what limits he thinks exist on his administration's ability to circumvent U.S. law, given the reasoning he has offered in justification of the domestic spying policy. Bush got very testy at this question, and basically said that the existing checks on his ability to circumvent U.S. law consisted of the oath he took to uphold the law and the requirement he honors to inform relevant members of Congress of such policies in classified briefings. Which basically means the only real restriction on the president's ability to aggrandize executive power in the name of fighting terror is the Bible he swore on.

…At this point Congress exists to be briefed in secret about the administration's actions, including actions that suspend or circumvent existing U.S. law. The president made that perfectly clear today.

Anyone still defending this steaming pile of hooey at this point is not only not a conservative, but an advocate for the wholesale dismantlement of the American democratic model. Simple as that. It’s not parisanism, it’s not a game of I’m-right-and-you’re-wrong; it’s a statement of fact. Genuine conservatives/libertarians, with whom I disagree on just about everything, also find this appalling (via Bérubé), and for the same reasons. For anyone who cares a whit about the principles upon which this nation was founded, the Bush administration’s machinations are indefensible. Anyone else endorses a vision for our future that will harm us more than any terrorist ever could.