tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post2497853633614261918..comments2024-03-03T13:55:46.243-08:00Comments on Ambling Along the Aqueduct: Stepping through the Looking GlassTimmi Duchamphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673465487533328661noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-44964329301959564742007-08-01T17:29:00.000-07:002007-08-01T17:29:00.000-07:00I suppose, Josh, that my hesitation to assume this...I suppose, Josh, that my hesitation to assume this was an aberration is prima facie evidence that I lack all sense of what the Bush Administration's limits are. They've scorned & perverted many of the most important traditions & institutions laid down by the Founders, & they boast that they can & do "create" "reality." <BR/><BR/>To take an extreme, hypothetical example: I have no idea what I'd make of some dismissed or disgruntled staffer coming out with the claim that The Big Dick was requiring his employees to take blood oaths to obey & support & never betray him personally. Ordinarily I'd dismiss such a story out of hand without thinking twice about it. But these people don't live in my reality. Which is to say, I don't know how to evaluate their statements.Timmi Duchamphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00673465487533328661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-90015160161293079892007-07-30T19:38:00.000-07:002007-07-30T19:38:00.000-07:00Timmi, I don't think anyone actually believes she ...Timmi, I don't think anyone actually believes she took an oath to serve the president; that's just what <I>she</I> remembered having done.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-3010856763349850282007-07-29T09:58:00.000-07:002007-07-29T09:58:00.000-07:00Bruce Fein, at least, has been raising these criti...Bruce Fein, at least, has been raising these criticisms for several years. As I pointed out on <A HREF="http://hopeandpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/07/another-reason-to-oppose-haynes.html" REL="nofollow">In This Moment</A> last year, he was one of the people criticizing Cheney's lawyer David Addington, one of the architects of extreme executive privilege. He was also part of an <A HREF="http://hopeandpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/07/american-bar-association-says-bushs.html" REL="nofollow">American Bar Association task force</A> criticizing signing statements. <BR/><BR/>I'm not sure Fein still sees himself as a conservative Republican. Perhaps he still feels strongly about capitalism and free markets in the traditional Republican sense, but his thoughts on civil liberties are much more radical than that.<BR/><BR/>What gets me is that moderate Republicans in Congress -- people who never held extreme views -- have been unwilling to go even half as far as someone like Fein. And, of course, the Democrats have been wimpy, too, as you've pointed out. A <A HREF="http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-walt-july2007,0,743864.cartoongallery?index=2" REL="nofollow">cartoon by Walt Handelsman</A> sums this up nicely.Nancy Jane Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01030267999537291250noreply@blogger.com