GEORGE WILL BLISTERS BUSH'S "MONARCHICAL DOCTRINE"

Hoo-ee! It's been obvious from his recent appearances on the This Week panel that George Will has serious doubts about the Bush-Cheney execution of the "long war" that Mr. Conservative Columnist is finally, and highly, disapproving, but this op-ed is blistering. Will takes on what he characterizes as Bush's "monarchical doctrine" and its supporters' "incoherent arguments" in favor:

It is that whenever the nation is at war, the other two branches of government have a radically diminished pertinence to governance, and the president determines what that pertinence shall be.
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Anyway, the argument that the AUMF contained a completely unexpressed congressional intent to empower the president to disregard the FISA regime is risible coming from this administration. It famously opposes those who discover unstated meanings in the Constitution's text and do not strictly construe the language of statutes.

Here's Will's final thought:

Congress should make all necessary actions lawful by authorizing the president to take those actions, with suitable supervision. It should do so with language that does not stigmatize what he has been doing, but that implicitly refutes the doctrine that the authorization is superfluous.

George is absolutely correct. But he neglects to highlight the fact that since the president has been breaking the law knowingly, deliberately, and incessantly for SEVERAL YEARS he should not get a pass. The pResident's attempt to usurp the authority of the legislative and judicial branches is the most serious threat to our system of governance in recent history, and must not go unchecked, or unnoted.

Tags: Bush, George Will, Constitution