Friday, August 08, 2008

Did Dick Cheney Give Bush Plausible Deniability?

I thought this was an insightful analysis of Dick Cheney's philosophy on presidential power.

Suskind argues that Cheney concluded from his perch at the White House during those years that Nixon fell not because of his abuse of government — he asked agencies such as the IRS and the FBI to shadow his enemies. Or because of the break-in of the Watergate offices of the Democratic National Committee by criminals with ties to CREEP (The Committee To Re-Elect the President). Or even because of the cover-up.

Suskind believes Cheney concluded that Nixon had been “overbriefed” and that his aides had failed to give him “plausible deniability.” And so, a la Suskind, that is what Cheney set out to give George W. Bush.

Another Mexican military incursion into US

This from the Washington Times
The State Department and the U.S. Border Patrol on Wednesday described as a "misunderstanding" a Sunday night incursion of Mexican soldiers into Arizona, where they held a Border Patrol agent at gunpoint until backup agents responded to assist.
And this from MSNBC
T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union for Border Patrol agents, said the incursions have created a disturbing pattern.
Bonner said there have been at least a half-dozen situations in recent years in which Mexican soldiers have entered U.S. territory and shot at Border Patrol agents.
"It's a minor miracle that none of our agents have been killed or seriously injured," he said.

justice

test for justice on the go