The Legacy of 43: Supporting Anarchy (or The Woodpile Mentioned in Yesterday's Post)

One definition of anarchy includes the absence of law. If the purge of U.S. Attorneys who were doing their respective jobs by following the rules to which we were all once accustomed (and subjected), didn't tell you enough about this White House's attitude toward the law, did the president's extraordinary commutation of Scooter Libby yesterday give you a clearer picture?

Let's do a more comprehensive review of some "rules" as Ms. Monica Goodling likes to use the term - mere guidelines, if you will - and this administration's attitude re: same, shall we?

FISA - not applicable, even though, by its own terms as drafted by the legislative branch of this country (that's the branch of government actually charged with making laws, in case you've forgotten) it is the exclusive means by which certain kinds of data can be gathered.

Geneva Convention requirements - "quaint." Yeah, I don't think my uncle who was a Marine in WWII would describe them that way - nor would he have described the violations of them very casually either.

habeus corpus - too old, and who cares if you treat the Constitution as suggestive rather than controlling?

violation of the prohibitions against assault with a deadly weapon (or what's known in the comedy circles as 'shoot a guy in the face') - IF and only if you're Vice-president Dick Cheney, donwurraboudit. Nothing - absolutely nothing - you do is anybody else's business.

The Constitution - "just a goddamn piece of paper" according to our president ... that is, until he wants to exploit it to explain how he's entitled to commute Scooter Libby's sentence.

Congressional subpoenas - rip ...

As conservatives cry about how poor little Scooter was just a "fall guy" while conveniently forgetting he voluntarily took on a role that even a 1L would realize could put him in jeopardy of prosecution (Republicans are aaaaallll about "personal responsibility" as long as it's somebody else's), let's not forget how Scooter got in trouble in the first place.

The president and vice-president lied about the Niger affair ... a man, Joe Wilson, who knew firsthand the claim about yellowcake and Iraq and Niger was false, couldn't stand by while that claim was being used ON THE AMERICAN PUBLIC as a means to get support for the war in Iraq. Joe Wilson's efforts to counter ONE PIECE - merely one - of dangerous misinformation was not only ignored by people whose job it was to ensure we don't go to war lightly, they captured the White House's attention and prompted Karl Rove to declare that even "Wilson's wife" was fair game in the plot to make sure the American public lined up to go to war with an administration willing to manipulate it. When asked by federal investigators trying to determine whether a crime had been committed in the revelation of Plame's name, Scooter Libby chose to lie about relevant matters. He chose to obfuscate. He chose to hamper the investigation into the matter by choosing to lie under oath and not under oath. Free will - it's a bitch.

This immature, unprofessional, incompetent administration worked to discredit a man who, prompted by his conscience, exercised his right of free speech and attempted to inform a public on the brink of war that at least part of what it was being told was not the truth. Had reasonable people been paying attention, we might have asked ourselves, "If this isn't true, what else do they have wrong." Many dead bodies and billions of dollars later, it's too damn late for that now, but, in one respect, it doesn't matter anyway because no one actually responsible is taking "personal responsibility" for the Iraq War decision. Not the kind of responsibility that comes with any consequences, anyway. In this one regard, then, Scooter's saga is a perfectly matched immorality play.

Ironically, "Wilson's wife" had spent 20 years developing a career with the CIA that was important in this country's ability to track ACTUAL WMD, not just the kind you need to invent in order to get public support for a war. Wilson himself, of course, had better than 20 years in public service to this country as an Ambassador.

In his reaction to yesterday's commutation, presidential candidate, lobbyist extraordinaire and general faker Fred Thompson referred to Scooter Libby as a "good American" - very "Brad Schlozman," don't you think? I don't need the likes of Thompson and Schlozman to tell me who the good Americans are in any of these scenarios - they are the ones following the law, or at the very least demonstrating some respect for it and not just paying it cynical lip service.

Everything Joe Wilson wrote in his op-ed piece has been proven true, and every word uttered by this president and vice-president about this war has been proven false. This White House has thanked him for his efforts by smearing him, outing his wife, and "saving" the one person who has been proven to have lied about all of it, proven to a citizen jury's satisfaction.

But here's the kicker. What if, hypothetically speaking, you were a president and you had a couple of skeletons in the closet, a couple of things under the rug that, if Congress or the American people knew about them, could cause you trouble with a capital "I." What could you do? One thing you could do is encourage your Attorney General to go before Congress and tell bald face lies, no matter what the subject of the hearing - be it FISA or that D.O.J. overblown personnel matter or letting the V.P. jump in and out of the Executive Branch at will - and then prove to your A.G. that you've got his back. You prove it by commuting the sentence of a convicted perjurer ... all the A.G. has to do is "play ball" and stave off the other two CO-FREAKIN'-EQUAL BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT. It'll work because you can count on the Republicans in Congress to continue to be a united front-man ...

This administration has rolled back the rule of law faster and more often than the Wal-Mart smiley face rolls back prices. Sadly and shamefully, no one on the right side of the aisle seems to care about the erosion of public confidence in systems we once considered foundations of our very democracy. All I can say is these guys are setting a hell of a precedent for the next president. Don't worry my Republican friends - I'm prepared to fight just as hard for the rule of law versus a Democratic president run amok as you're fighting for it now.

File this one under Blogging While Pissed (and not in the British sense of the word, either).