Dick Cheney's fourth branch

Just another though I had on the surreal argument about Dick Cheney's assertion that he constitutes a separate, independent branch of government. Apparently, Dick Cheney's theory is that because he has some legislative functions, as VP, he is outside the authority of either the legislative or the executive branch. I'm just waiting for someone to notice that the President signs bills into law, thus completing the legislative function, and starts to argue that he is outside the authority of the Executive branch.

Testing Bush

So Kagro X over at Kos has a lengthy post up about the running story of Dick Cheney (and now amazingly George Bush) are exempt from Bush's executive order defining how classified information is to be handled. The major points are noted in the post. For one thing, while Bush and Cheney are now claiming that the order doesn't apply to them, that is no where indicated in the actual order. In fact the order makes specific mention of the role of the President and Vice President at numerous places. To claim now that they have nothing to do with it, is absurd.

But I think the order, and the current response of our chief executives, says a great deal about their competence. One overriding feature of the Bush/Cheney administration is the refusal, under any circumstances, to allow a set of standards to be defined ahead of time, standards by which they might be judged a success or a failure. They are incompetent. Should any standard be defined ahead of time, they would invariably fail to meet it. Their only chance of being viewed by anyone as a success is if the standards of success can be defined after the fact.

We see that again in the current dispute. Even when they have a standard set by themselves, they have to exempt themselves from it. If they were to be held to adhere to any standard, they would demonstrably fail.

This would be great

It looks like maybe the Democrats might actually play hardball with Mr. Cheney. Rahm Emmanuel has put forth an amendment to cut funding for the Office of the Vice President from the bill that funds the executive branch. Given Cheney's recent claims that he comprises his own branch of government this is exactly the kind of action the Democrats need to be doing. Go, Rahm.

Cheney

Well, I've got to mention the latest on Dick Cheney's new grab for power. He seems to be asserting authority outside of any branch of government now. Check out The Reality Based Community for some good commentary. Also, this at Daily Kos.

The Kos article is particularly valuable as Progressive American Patriot hits on the obvious problem with Cheney's claim. Cheney claims to be part of both the executive and legislative branches, therefore rules applying to the executive branch don't apply to him. That makes no sense. Even if we accept his two branch position, then that would simply imply that the rules of both branches apply, not that neither rules apply. If I own land that stretches across the boarder between Maryland and Pennsylvania, I would then be subject to the laws of both states, not subject to the laws of no state. The fact that such obvious absurdity is taken seriously by anyone is disturbing.

The article over on TRBC is good satire, although I find the argument that the Vice President's office is not executive neither right on the merits nor particularly amusing, but maybe I'm missing some subtle humor. He does make good points on the relationship between Dick Cheney's "fourth branch of government" and Bush's claim to a unitary executive (totally contradictory) and between Cheney's fourth branch and strict constructionalism (totally contradictory). Furthermore, the idea of simply defunding the Vice-Presidency is a very good idea.

More Like This

Here is Senator Harry Reid's response to the latest from our Vice President. This is the way that the Democratic leadership needs to talk. This is the kind of thing that the Progressive community has been wanting, has been calling for, for the past six years. To quote in full

Vice President Cheney should be the last person to lecture anyone on how leaders should make decisions.

Leaders should make decisions based on facts and reality, two words that seem to be foreign to the Vice President

This is the same guy who said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and that we would be greeted as liberators. And it's the same guy who continues to assert that Saddam Hussein had links to al Qaeda long after our own intelligence agency conclusively refuted this notion. To suggest he lacks credibility would be an understatement.

The Vice President's and others' attacks on those who disagree with their failed policies are signs of desperation. They are lashing out because they know the days are numbered for their failed strategy and that the American people and a bipartisan majority are determined to force this Administration to change course in Iraq.

This is all exactly correct. The Administration, the Vice President in particular, has no credibility when it comes to making decisions regarding national security or foreign policy (or much else really). The policies of this Administration have indeed failed and people should feel free to state this clearly and emphatically. And finally the current lashing out by the Administration is a clear sign of their desperation. The Democratic leadership, the Democratic party and the Progressive movement need now to hold firm and oppose the policies of Dick Cheney and George Bush and eventually a changed policy in Iraq will be produced. A policy in accordance with the desires and interests of the American people.