The Gall of Bush

By Matthew Rothschild, February 20, 2006

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Gonzales are Gallists. There is no limit to their gall.

Not only does Bush assert that he can flout the FISA law and go and wiretap you without a warrant, he now asserts that any discussion of his illegality somehow jeopardizes our security.

On Friday, at Centcom in Tampa, he said: “Unfortunately, we’re having this discussion. It’s too bad, because guess who listens to the discussion: the enemy.”
Somehow, I think Osama knows that the U.S. is spying on him.

And anyway, open discussion is what democracy is all about.

If we can’t even talk about Presidential law-breaking, Bush is off scot free.

That’s why he wants to suffocate the inquiry into the NSA scandal under a wet blanket of fear-mongering, which is the Administration’s default maneuver on just about everything.

(By the way, Bush’s Tampa audience was a study in obsequiousness. The first question he got from the audience began this way: “Mr. President, I just wanted to take an opportunity to tell you I think our country is blessed to have you as our President. We are very thankful that you don’t make your decisions based on the polls, like previous Presidents have.” The questioner, who asked about housing and interest rates, ended his question by saying, “I’m blessed to be here today with you in this room, and we all love you.” Another questioner said, “Thank you for being our President. We are all way better off and safe.” Not a single person asked him about the NSA scandal, though some asked him about such faraway issues as Uganda.)

If Bush’s effort to stifle the Congressional investigation fails, he’s hoping to cover his misdeeds with a retroactive get-out-of-jail free card.

Designing that card is Mike DeWine, Republican of Ohio, who has introduced a bill that would authorize the warrantless wiretapping that Bush has already engaged in.

That’s like someone who is caught going 100 miles an hour getting the policeman to go back and change the speed limit signs.

The only difference between the speeder and Bush is that Bush might actually get away with it—unless we demand justice, which Bush believes he’s way above.