Clarion Content

Or another reason to consider McCain.

The New York Times did a piece today asking selected commentators what questions haven't yet been posed to Obama and Clinton prior to tonight's debate. The Times wanted to know what questions they would ask. Boston Globe reporter Charlie Savage raised the issue of signing statements. He noted that Bush II has issued over 1,000 such signing statements. He pointed out as, did the Clarion nearly two years ago, that the American Bar Association called for an end to this practice.

In the Clarion's view signing statements are among the most egregious violations of constitutional law committed by the Bush administration. Signing statements, and the belief in the accrual of executive power that their aggressive use demonstrates, is what has earned Bush the derisive moniker King George the II. He, Dick Cheney and the administration have played fast and loose with the rule of law, from the Geneva Convention, to warrantless wiretapping, secret renditions, extra-judicial trials, material witness detention, the list goes on and on. Signing statements are at or near the top of said list, for the extent and nature of their violation. If they are not as repugnant as countenancing torture, they are more fundamental, because, they are, in fact, declarations by the executive branch that it is above the law. (any given law, including, but in no way limited to, laws concerning torture.) Beyond any defense offered by the Bush administration about their particular use of signing statements is the precedent and the slippery slope.

From King George II's signing statement added to a bill outlawing the torture of detainees...

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


The curious thing about the point Mr. Savage was raising in the Times today was that Clinton and Obama both say they would continue using signing statements.

John McCain has said unequivocally he will never issue a signing statement.

Signing statements, which had no pretense to any constitutional force prior to the Reagan administration, violate the separation of powers and subvert the will of Congress, the elected lawmakers of the People.

Labels: 2008's President, Politics