In Their Own Words

From PBS.org
An overview of the vice president's views on presidential power and covert action that shows a remarkable consistency from the 1980s to today.

November 1987
Congressman Richard Cheney was the ranking Republican on the congressional committee investigating the Iran-contra affair, in which Reagan administration officials secretly diverted the proceeds of arms sales to Iran to fund the contras in Nicaragua, who were fighting to oust the left-wing government. Below are excerpts from the section of the committee's minority report on presidential power, which Cheney and his staff authored.

"Judgments about the Iran-Contra Affair ultimately must rest upon one's views about the proper roles of Congress and the President in foreign policy. ... [T]hroughout the Nation's history, Congress has accepted substantial exercises of Presidential power -- in the conduct of diplomacy, the use of force and covert action -- which had no basis in statute and only a general basis in the Constitution itself. ... [M]uch of what President Reagan did in his actions toward Nicaragua and Iran were constitutionally protected exercises of inherent Presidential powers. ... [T]he power of the purse ... is not and was never intended to be a license for Congress to usurp Presidential powers and functions."
(What Cheney does not mention is the fact that the International CRIMINAL Court (World Court) declared the actions in Nicaragua a war crime and ordered the USA to pay retribution to the country of Nicaragua. Bush's reactdion - he pulled the USA from International Court!
So American "executive privilege" essentially means the President will do any God damned thing he wants and to hell with any laws. That is certainly how they have operated for sixty years and managed to keep it out of the press all that time.)


“Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” – President Bush, to FEMA director Michael Brown, while touring Hurricane-ravaged Mississippi, Sept. 2, 2005

Likewise American "media"

"We do not torture" - George W. Bush on almost every occasion he can, LIES outright in the face of a mountain of evidence to the contrary.
“I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don’t have food and water.” – Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Sept. 1, 2005
“Well, I think if you look at what actually happened, I remember on Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, ‘New Orleans Dodged the Bullet.’ Because if you recall, the storm moved to the east and then continued on and appeared to pass with considerable damage but nothing worse.” – Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, blaming media coverage for his failings, “Meet the Press,” Sept. 4, 2005
“I mean, you have people who don’t heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.” – Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), Sept. 6, 2005


“We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did.” – Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA) to lobbyists, as quoted in the Wall Street Journal

(God? More like taking the money to support the levees and sending it to Iraq, and the hurricane manipulation project (HAARP) the military has had operational for y-ears. Too sweet...then Halliburton gets the contracts to rebuild the city and they import illegal aliens and hire them to do the work.
Just like a Mugabe land reformation- they have driven most all of the poor people off what land they did own, and they have little with which to fight back. THAT is why he said, "Nice job Brownie"!)

The source for much of the material herein:
http://whiteprivilege.com/2005/09/12/republicans-in-their-own-words/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/darkside/themes/ownwords.html