Rogue updated
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Spine alert. It’s been located.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) said he plans to propose next week, as part of
a spending bill for executive operations, a measure to place a hold on funds
for Cheney’s office and official home until he clarifies to which branch of
the government he belongs. Emanuel acknowledged that the proposal is just
a stunt, but he said that if Cheney is not part of the executive branch, he
should not receive its funds. “As we say in Chicago, follow the money,”
he said.
Cheney hasn’t paid any attention to the Constitution for a very long time. He’s been
his own foreign policy since Bush stepped into office, also believing he’s untouchable. I agree with Sullivan.
This is not a small matter.
It’s in foreign policy and national security issues that we really need to be concerned.
Cheney is a serious man who doesn’t care what’s said about him. He operates
in his own world, with his own rules. None of this is news, but it looks like
the corporate hack pack is finally paying attention or belatedly showing some interest.
… Stealth is among Cheney’s most effective tools. Man-size Mosler safes,
used elsewhere in government for classified secrets, store the workaday business
of the office of the vice president. Even talking points for reporters are
sometimes stamped “Treated As: Top Secret/SCI.” Experts in and out
of government said Cheney’s office appears to have invented that designation,
which alludes to “sensitive compartmented information,” the most
closely guarded category of government secrets. By adding the words “treated
as,” they said, Cheney seeks to protect unclassified work as though its
disclosure would cause “exceptionally grave damage to national security.”A document from the Office of the Vice President is stamped “Treated
as Secret/SCI” Across the board, the vice president’s office goes to
unusual lengths to avoid transparency. Cheney declines to disclose the names
or even the size of his staff, generally releases no public calendar and ordered
the Secret Service to destroy his visitor logs. His general counsel has asserted
that “the vice presidency is a unique office that is neither a part of
the executive branch nor a part of the legislative branch,” and is therefore
exempt from rules governing either. Cheney is refusing to observe an executive
order on the handling of national security secrets, and he proposed to abolish
a federal office that insisted on auditing his compliance.In the usual business of interagency consultation, proposals and information
flow into the vice president’s office from around the government, but high-ranking
White House officials said in interviews that almost nothing flows out. Close
aides to Cheney describe a similar one-way valve inside the office, with information
flowing up to the vice president but little or no reaction flowing down. …
A year and a half left in Mr. Bush’s presidential lease, so where has everyone been? It’s not a minor question.
UPDATE II: A Strong Push From Backstage, the third in the Post series is up.
UPDATE: Read about the Vice President of Torture, as the saga continues.
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