April 06, 2006

What! You Mean He Can Do That?

Liberals amazed that Commander-in-Chief has authority to declassify information
The liberal media watchdog (that pooch can't be getting much exercise) group Media Matters for America shrilly complains that CNN and Fox reporters "accepted without question [the] claim that Bush's NIE 'declassification' was legal".

There's a good reason they did. MMA should have waited so they could have included such bastions of conservative propaganda as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times in their complaint. From the New York Times: "The president has the authority to declassify information..."

From the Los Angeles times: "Bush, as commander in chief, has the authority to declassify information."

From the Washington Post:

Legal scholars and analysts said yesterday that the president has the authority to selectively declassify intelligence reports But they also said it was highly unusual for senior officials at the White House to take such an action so stealthily, without notifying Cabinet officials or others in the administration, including the CIA authors of the National Intelligence Estimate.
Unusual threats often call for unusual responses. It's also highly unusual for the President's administration to come under attack from a cabal of renegade bureaucrats within the Central Intelligence Agency.

Also posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto and Vince Aut Morire.

Posted by: Bluto at 10:43 PM | Comments (29) | Add Comment
Post contains 222 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Well golllllyy.......Our President was counteracting that lying State Dept., namely Joe Wilson, who is just another anti-war liberal fatalist who thought he was more powerful than W. Put both him and Valarie in a jail cell with Moussouai and throw away the key. I bet they wouldn't like that.

Posted by: n.a.palm at April 07, 2006 06:51 AM (eXs2X)

2 finaly busted ,motherfucking LEAKER-IN-CHIEF ,its allmost over for these sneaky ,lying,gready ,Neoconfashist viruses. NeoconfaNeoconfashistsshists END OF GAME NeoconfashistsNeoconfNeoconfashistsasNeoconfashistshNeoconfashistsistsNeoconfNeoconfashistsasNNeoconfashistseoconfashistshistsNeoconfashistsNeNeoconfashistsoconfashists

Posted by: The Dutch Guy at April 07, 2006 07:09 AM (zqsRN)

3 Fashist? Is that some kind of fashion critic or what?

Posted by: Howie at April 07, 2006 07:18 AM (D3+20)

4 TO: LEAKER IN CHIEF Next time you use microsoft Word, please turn on 1. spell check 2. grammer check 3. content check 4. sanity check Your ignorance is showing.

Posted by: n.a.palm at April 07, 2006 07:21 AM (eXs2X)

5 my ignorance doesnt change the facts its over ,hear that ? over over over .

Posted by: The Dutch Guy at April 07, 2006 07:24 AM (zqsRN)

6 To: leaker in chief: What's over? The GW BUSH presidency? I hate to add to your psychic discomfort, but this story will resolve in favor of W and the republicans, and against you moonbats. Don't you get tired of being wrong?

Posted by: n.a.palm at April 07, 2006 07:31 AM (eXs2X)

7 What President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have said about the CIA leak investigation: "I want to know the truth. I want to see to it that the truth prevails." _ Bush to reporters, Oct. 7, 2003, on determining the identity of the leaker. He also said his staff was cooperating in the investigation. ___ "The president was glad to do his part to cooperate with the investigation. The president was pleased to share whatever information he had with the officials in charge and answer their questions." _ White House press secretary Scott McClellan, June 25, 2004, when asked by reporters if Bush had answered every question in his meeting the previous day with prosecutors. ___ "I would like this to end as quickly as possible. If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration." _ Bush, July 18, 2005. ___ "(Libby) has worked tirelessly on behalf of the American people and sacrificed much in the service to this country. He served the vice president and me through extraordinary times in our nation's history." _ Bush, Oct. 28, 2005, the day of Libby's indictment and resignation. ___ "I have accepted his decision with deep regret." _ Cheney, in accepting Libby's resignation, Oct. 28, 2005. ___ "You're trying to get me to comment on the investigation, which I'm not going to do." _ Bush to reporters on a November 2005 trip to Latin America. ___ "I will not say any more about it. There will be a time when I can discuss it, but not now." _ Cheney, Dec. 18, 2005, during an interview on ABC news, responding to a reporter asking if he directed anyone to disclose or cover up disclosure of CIA agent's identity. ___ "I have certainly advocated declassification. I have participated in declassification decisions." _ Cheney, Feb. 15, 2006, during an interview on Fox News Channel.

Posted by: The Dutch Guy at April 07, 2006 07:40 AM (zqsRN)

8 Now this is interesting. The semi-coherent message signed "LEAKER-IN-CHIEF" came from...The Netherlands. That explains the poor English skills, but not why a foreign national in a country notorious for sheltering terrorist propaganda organizations is so invested in trying to smear the US President.

Posted by: The Dread Pundit Bluto at April 07, 2006 07:47 AM (RHG+K)

9 THE NEOCONS had been preparing for this war long before they stepped into the White House. In September 2000, for example, Paul Wolfowitz, soon to be deputy defense secretary under Donald Rumsfeld, and several other people who would play a role in the Bush administration coauthored a report for the Project for a New American Century, arguing that “the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.”

Posted by: The Dutch Guy at April 07, 2006 07:57 AM (zqsRN)

10 Bluto; Isn't everything permitted in the Netherlands, i.e. drugs, child sex, euthanasia, etc.........? This might explain the obvious paranoia of leaker in chief.

Posted by: n.a.palm at April 07, 2006 08:01 AM (eXs2X)

11 To; leaker in chief I hate to break the news to you, but what we're doing in Iraq is helping to save your sorry asses in Europe. God knows that if we didn't, the muslims would destroy what's left of you like so many insects.

Posted by: n.a.palm at April 07, 2006 08:06 AM (eXs2X)

12 The MMA article says: "For example, what's to prevent the president from retroactively absolving White House aides for leaking Plame's identity by simply claiming that he had given his unwritten approval?" This is where they start stretching things to the point of breaking. Listen, these people are more in a snit over how this makes Wilson look like a boob, and thereby makes them look like boobs for putting him on a pedestal, than anything. And when Bush said he wanted to find the leaker, he was referring to who leaked Plame's name, not who leaked the NIE information. Many of the commenters in the MMA article are a bunch of boobs implying the latter. Some have legitimate questions, but the "leaking" of information in the NIE and the leaking of Plame's name are different issues. They're trying to make them the same thing. Plame's name merely came up because of the nature of the issue and her husband's involvement in trying to lead others to believe that there was never even any meetings between Saddam's cronies and the purveyors of uranium. We know there were meetings. And Plame was a high profile figure more by her own actions than anything. And if they're trying to nail Bush with something here, then why is Wilson left to strut around the country like a peacock given a free pass by the left; especially after his ridiculous NYT piece? Why? Because he was clever enough not to blatantly lie and only strongly imply, by ommission, that nothing was going on between Iraq and Niger? Bush claimed Iraq was "pursuing" yellowcake, not that they had purchased it. But Wilson's piece implies the latter and uses that as the basis for his piece to discredit Bush. If they'd just stick to the matter of whether or not Libby told a lie it would be different. But they're grasping at straws to keep this non-issue alive. -------------------- Leaker in Chief: isn't it time to go pick up your welfare check?

Posted by: Oyster at April 07, 2006 08:19 AM (YudAC)

13 I think he has already picked up his welfare check, Oyster, and has spent the past few hours in one of those internet cafes where hashish is all the rage. He's about reached his limit, I see.

Posted by: jesusland joe at April 07, 2006 09:32 AM (rUyw4)

14 we re no warmongers ,we are a free intelectual country , where hate and racism are harshly punished.we are very sofisticated and way too different,from a dum,stupid and consuming yankee society,where the governement has been hijacked by a bunch of thugs,neoconscumbag right-wing pirates who demanded George Bush to invade Iraq and are now admiting they got it wrong. Are you listening, Mr President and leaker-in-chief? . Don't wanna be an American idiot. Don't want a nation controlled by the media. Information nation of hysteria. It's going out to idiot America. Dum dum dum dum dum dum dadum dadum dum Move on, move on Dum dum dum dum dum dum dadum dadum dum Move on, move on

Posted by: The Dutch Guy at April 07, 2006 09:37 AM (zqsRN)

15 Hey Leaker, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but Bush isn't running for reelection! lol!

Posted by: Jesusland Carlos at April 07, 2006 09:47 AM (8e/V4)

16 Yes, leaker-in-chief, you're not "warmongers". That's why American boys had to die to save your weak asses in WWII, and again in the ME today. Parasites.

Posted by: The Dread Pundit Bluto at April 07, 2006 10:04 AM (RHG+K)

17 TO: leaker in chief; If you 'harshly punish' hate in NL,........ you're under arrest. Sir, turn around and place your hands behind your back...you have the right to remain......STUPID!

Posted by: n.a.palm at April 07, 2006 10:11 AM (eXs2X)

18 WWII ?????????? THE RUSSIANS DID THE JOB AND AMERICANS TOOK THE CREDIT MAAAAAN ALLWAYS CONNING PEOPLE. BY WAY OF DECEPTON.......... HEMMM SOUNDS MOSSADSTYLE..LIKE ..........................

Posted by: The Dutch Guy at April 07, 2006 10:20 AM (zqsRN)

19 LIKE WE VE BEEN TO THE MOON (HOLLYWOODMOON) YOU MEAN.WE COULD NEVER BELIEVE THAT SUCH IGNORANT ,STUPID SOCIETY COULD ACHIEVE WHAT THE RUSSIANS HAVE ACHIEVED IN SPACE,IT JUST DOESNT MAKE SENS .

Posted by: The Dutch Guy at April 07, 2006 10:25 AM (zqsRN)

20 Hey Leaky A**hole, if the Netherlands is such a sophisticated and swell place, perhaps you could enlighten us as to why this is: http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/05/a_dutch_exodus.shtml "More and more Dutch people are leaving the Netherlands to live abroad." Nearly 50,000 of them left last year, the highest number since the postwar era when the Dutch government was encouraging emigration. The emigrants are identified in the radio report as "highly skilled people . . . the kind of workforce you want to keep." The story suggests several reasons for the growing emigration. "Escaping the stress of clogged roads, street violence and loss of faith in the country's once celebrated way of life," says the report, "the Dutch are quitting their homeland in droves.""

Posted by: Graeme at April 07, 2006 10:35 AM (mDAET)

21 Do not feed the trolls.

Posted by: Twit at April 07, 2006 10:46 AM (XDkQC)

22 >>>LIKE WE VE BEEN TO THE MOON (HOLLYWOODMOON) YOU MEAN. Leaker, wow, you must be the big dumbass on the planet! I guess BDS will do that to ya. lol! The only thing leaking is your butt plug.

Posted by: Jesusland Carlos at April 07, 2006 11:06 AM (8e/V4)

23 Word up, twit. Leaky is obviously mentally unstable. Notice how each post gets less coherent as the foam around his lips (I'm assuming that white stuff is foam) builds and builds?

Posted by: slug at April 07, 2006 11:44 AM (wYW63)

24 By itself, this leak issue probably means little. Yes, as President, George Bush cannot technically leak classified information because the very action of leaking it also declassifies it. And yes, his original promise to remove leakers in his administration was made in reference to the Plame case. Add this latest incident to the many, many other questionable revelations that keep cropping up, however -- even within the Republican Party -- and you get a picture of an administration all-to willing to break it own rules to cover its tail and/or advance its grip on power, whether it harms the nation or not.

Posted by: Eric at April 07, 2006 03:16 PM (UHKaK)

25 Well I was going to savage the little twerp, but there's not much left for me to do. I'm too blissed out anyway.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at April 07, 2006 04:07 PM (0yYS2)

26 He's nothing but an ignorant Muslim wanna-be-jihadist. They are all over the internet. Dark Age mental idiots is how I would describe them.

Posted by: jesusland joe at April 07, 2006 04:57 PM (rUyw4)

27 leaker in chief (you have a bladder problem?): got news for ya. The official US position (that's government, bub) calling for regime change in Iraq predated the Bush Presidency. The Clinton Administration actually started us down this little garden path years before W even was nominated. Not that I would like to give Clinton credit, but facts are facts. Better think before you post.

Posted by: Passionate Conservative at April 07, 2006 05:16 PM (a07ux)

28 WWII ?????????? THE RUSSIANS DID THE JOB AND AMERICANS TOOK THE CREDIT MAAAAAN ALLWAYS CONNING PEOPLE. So it was the Russians who landed at Normanday, and who jumped into Bastogne, etc.? This, folks, is just more evidence of why we must get rid of the liberals too; they're weapons-grade stupid.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at April 08, 2006 06:16 AM (0yYS2)

29 And they never said a thing when bill clinton was selling out this nations biggist TOP SECRETS to the chi-coms for illegal cash for his corupt demacratic party

Posted by: sandpiper at April 08, 2006 01:58 PM (qMAo+)

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