Bush Played McCain

This is so disheartening and infuriating all at the same time. Last week newspapers around the world reported that Bush had signed legislation proposed by Senator McCain prohibiting the torture of prisoners in US hands outside of the country. The signing was accompanied by pictures of Bush and McCain smiling and shaking hands in spite of the fact that Bush had fought to block the legislation.

Now I understand why Bush was smiling. He signed legislation he never intended to follow according to an article in today's Boston Globe.

After approving the bill last Friday, Bush issued a "signing statement" -- an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law -- declaring that he will view the interrogation limits in the context of his broader powers to protect national security. This means Bush believes he can waive the restrictions, the White House and legal specialists said.

"The executive branch shall construe [the law] in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President . . . as Commander in Chief," Bush wrote, adding that this approach "will assist in achieving the shared objective of the Congress and the President . . . of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks."

Bush is in essence saying laws do not apply to him; yet he is president of a nation where ALL people are bound to live within the law. Does our Constitution mean nothing to him? And what about McCain? Bush staged the whole event to make it look like he was willing to compromise and work with McCain (and Congress), when all along he never intended for the law to apply to him. He played McCain like a pawn in a chess game.

Elisa Massimino, Washington director for Human Rights Watch, called Bush's signing statement an "in-your-face affront" to both McCain and to Congress.

"The basic civics lesson that there are three co-equal branches of government that provide checks and balances on each other is being fundamentally rejected by this executive branch," she said.

"Congress is trying to flex its muscle to provide those checks [on detainee abuse], and it's being told through the signing statement that it's impotent. It's quite a radical view."

Radical is too kind. I'd label the signing statement tyrannical.