"preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States"

Front paged at Booman Tribune, ePluribus Media and My Left Wing

Never in my lifetime have such important words rang so hollow. The words uttered while the President of the United States is sworn into office. The oath that he (or she) is expected, nay, required to follow. Yet, from the very beginning of this administration, these words have been made a mockery by Bush and his office.

On this latest matter – we are told that there is no need for officials who have lied about leaking classified national security information and were involved in the blowing off of the “bin Laden Presidential Daily Briefing” to testify under oath (or to have any record of the “interviews”.

But if there is nothing to hide, then what is the big deal, right? After all, wasn’t that the right wing meme about the warrantless wiretapping by the Executive Branch (which, by the way, was ruled unconstitutional).

Preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Words that have held this country together. Words that indicate exactly what should be protected and defended. Not cronies. Not Big Oil. Not “party over country”. And certainly not the lying liars and war criminals who occupy the Executive Branch. The Preamble? Torn to shreds in so many ways that if it wasn’t so dangerous it would be laughable. The first amendment? Free speech zones will take care of that.

With respect to the US Attorney firings, the changing of the laws under the Patriot Act reauthorization regarding appointing interim US attorneys allowed the Attorney General to make appointments that arise during recess period in violation of Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution.

In using the phrase “a href=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,386961-2,00.html> My most important job is to protect America”, the Executive Branch has gone FAR out of its way to do just the opposite. Look at the Military Commissions Act of 2006 for more parts of the Constitution that were subverted in the name of “protecting America”.

Having one of the members of the Executive Branch (and one of the highest level officials in the Vice President’s office) convicted on perjury and obstructing justice certainly isn’t protecting the Constitution. Politicizing the Executive Branch and the Department of Justice - firing prosecutors for not bringing charges against Democrats, or for investigating republicans in the Executive and Legislative Branches, or for not pursuing voter fraud charges when there was no evidence of voter fraud. All in the name of “preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution, right?

Installing extremist judges who are so far outside of the mainstream that they would make Ghengis Khan look like a liberal. When Justice Department officials indicate that the firings were for not following Bush administration policy goals - even though US attorneys are supposed to be apolitical in their capacity as US attorney.

Issuing hundreds of “signing statements” that are meant to subvert the laws passed by Congress (as outlined in Article 1 of the Constitution).

Hell, even the way that this administration came into power in the first place was pretty much against the Constitution. I guess we can cross off Amendments 15, 19 and 24. This, of course can even be tied back to the US Attorney firings, as Tim Griffin, the replacement for Bud Cummins was involved in a “caging” scheme that was designed to disenfranchise minority voters who also happened to be serving overseas in Iraq, which would never have happened without the twisted and falsified evidence that the Executive Branch used to invade in the first place.

The list goes on and on and on. Executive Orders that allow the Vice President to declassify information whenever he (or she) sees fit. Which also just happened to be a few short months before a major selective “declassification” related to classified CIA information about Iraq, Iran and nuclear weapons.

Blanket ability to classify whoever the Executive Branch wants as an “enemy combatant” and deny them the rights under the Constitution. With no evidence or charges against them. Detaining US citizens indefinitely without charges. And many many many other instances that we probably don’t even know about yet.

Where does it end? Our Constitution has stood up and prevailed when challenged in the past. There are so many abuses by so many departments within the Executive Branch that it could take years to undo, untangle and investigate them all. Even in this latest instance, there is a gap in the documents provided from mid-November to early December - the critical period in which the firings were discussed.

It is time to fulfill that pledge to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”. The President took that oath. The members of Congress took that oath as well. If the President won’t fulfill his oath and continues to obstruct justice, then it is up to the House and the Senate to uphold theirs.