Cheney the Survivor (by Eugene Robinson for Truthdig)

Cheney the Survivor



Posted on Jun 26, 2007
By Eugene Robinson

WASHINGTON—I’m often asked why, given my lower-than-low opinion of this administration, I don’t at least raise the subject of whether George W. Bush should be impeached. I answer with three scary words that tend to end the discussion: President Dick Cheney.

Then again, Cheney would probably think of moving into the Oval Office as a demotion. The president, at least, has some accountability to public opinion—if he’s going to defy it, he has to offer some explanation. The president has to hold an occasional news conference, tolerate meetings with his opponents on Capitol Hill and endure lectures from world leaders who question his policies. Cheney can just blow it all off.

Cheney will be remembered not just as the first sitting vice president since Aaron Burr to shoot someone, but also as the first vice president in history clever and determined enough to turn what is usually a ceremonial office into a center of vast independent power.

It’s ironic that the latest outrage from Cheney is his claim to be exempt from a presidential order concerning the handling of classified documents because his office is not actually, or at least not exclusively, a part of the executive branch. Cheney, you see, has spent the past six years pushing the envelope of executive authority, asserting for Bush and himself the right to do pretty much any damn thing they want.

Didn’t Cheney claim executive privilege as his reason for keeping secret the process he followed in developing the administration’s energy policy, including the names of the people with whom he met?

The flap over secret documents is a mere bagatelle, however, compared with the way Cheney has usurped, concentrated and wielded power. A remarkable series of stories in The Washington Post about Cheney’s unprecedented role began Sunday with the amazing tale of how, two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, Cheney got Bush to sign an order denying foreign terrorism suspects access to any court of law, military or civilian. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070626_cheney_the_survivor/

and there's more than enough for hanging, too.