Bush Says He's Above The Law - AGAIN!

On December 19th 2000, George Bush - in what we all assumed was a throw away line - said, "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."

However, the longer he stays in power the less funny and more relevant that line becomes. I've already spoken about the illegal wiretapping and Bush's belief that he is above the law that states that FISA is the "exclusive means" of gaining authority to wiretap citizens on American soil.

Now we have him slyly adding addendums to the Patriot Act.

Bush signed the bill with fanfare at a White House ceremony March 9, calling it "a piece of legislation that's vital to win the war on terror and to protect the American people." But after the reporters and guests had left, the White House quietly issued a "signing statement," an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law.

In the statement, Bush said that he did not consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers were being used and that, despite the law's requirements, he could withhold the information if he decided that disclosure would "impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive's constitutional duties."

Bush wrote: "The executive branch shall construe the provisions . . . that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch . . . in a manner consistent with the president's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information . . . "

The statement represented the latest in a string of high-profile instances in which Bush has cited his constitutional authority to bypass a law.

This guy really does think he can do anything he wants and get away with it. He actually believes that anything he does is legal for the simple reason that it's him doing it and he's the President. Can you imagine the outrage if Clinton had tried to pull a stunt like this?

The only source of consolation in this is to remember what happened to the last Republican President who thought he was above the law.

The same fate awaits King George.

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