I agree with tristero
The truth is that there is a rogue presidency and there has been, since January, 2001 (earlier, if you count the stolen election). Certainly, everyone in Washington knows it, but no one dares to admit it. The bill legalizing torture merely enables Congress to pretend they still have some influence over an executive that from day one was governing, not as if they had a mandate, but as if Bush was a dictator. If, for some miracle, the bill didn’t pass, every congress-critter knows Bush would keep on torturing.
Better to vote to pass and preserve the appearance of a working American government, the thinking goes. For the very thought that the US government is seriously broken – that the Executive is beyond the control of anyone and everyone in the world – is such a truly awesome and terrifying thought that it can never be publicly acknowledged. If ever it is, if the American crisis gets outed and Congress and the Supremes openly assert that the Executive has run completely amok and is beyond control, the world consequences are staggering. It is the stuff of doomsday novels.
Be My Blog 
How very, very sad. *hangs head* Thank you for keeping me informed.
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Didion returned to a kind of sanity after the Schiavo thing to write this about Cheney and Bush.
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oh, good link…thanks. I have read two of those books Rise of the Vulcans and The Rise and Rise of Cheney….
After reading Rise of the Vulcans (which I highly highly recommend because it really shows the inter-relationships between the first term key players of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfawitz, Armatage, Rice and Powell), I have a hard time really thinking of Bush as anything other than a puppet.
The other factor really is Rove. And if Cheney is Darth Vader, Rove is the Emperor. Clinton was on Meet the Press this past Sunday and I think he invoked Rove in the light of an evil mastermind like 5 times.
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oh, good link…thanks. I have read two of those books Rise of the Vulcans and The Rise and Rise of Cheney….
After reading Rise of the Vulcans (which I highly highly recommend because it really shows the inter-relationships between the first term key players of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfawitz, Armatage, Rice and Powell), I have a hard time really thinking of Bush as anything other than a puppet.
The other factor really is Rove. And if Cheney is Darth Vader, Rove is the Emperor. Clinton was on Meet the Press this past Sunday and I think he invoked Rove in the light of an evil mastermind like 5 times.
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It’s enough to send me to the floor, kicking and screaming and waving my fists in impotent rage.
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“If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier… just as long as I’m the dictator…”
He laughed, but he wasn’t kidding.
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