Gonzales has no defense, here, obviously. However here is an even more important indication that we’re headed straight into impeachment territory: On December 6, 10 days before the New York Times ran their year-old story, Bush personally pleaded with the publisher and editor in chief not to tell the public about the secret program. Fat chance, Mr. Unpopular; the Times desperately needed to bring its journalistic reputation back thanks to the mess created by your errand boy Judith Miller. Here Alter gets to the heart of Bush’s current (it will change and soon) defense:
No, Bush was desperate to keep the Times from running this important story—which the paper had already inexplicably held for a year—because he knew that it would reveal him as a law-breaker. He insists he had “legal authority derived from the Constitution and congressional resolution authorizing force.†But the Constitution explicitly requires the president to obey the law. And the post 9/11 congressional resolution authorizing “all necessary force†in fighting terrorism was made in clear reference to military intervention. It did not scrap the Constitution and allow the president to do whatever he pleased in any area in the name of fighting terrorism.
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