© 2003-2006 David Moles

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Dangerous constitutional precedent

8 o'clock, June 25, 2004

I know the administration thinks it’s above the law, but this?

Even if the Senate were in session, the vice president, though constitutionally the president of the Senate, is an executive branch official and therefore free to use whatever language he likes.

That’s taking it too far, Mr. Vice President. I want to see some Justice Department memos on this.

(From the Washington Post, via Gwenda Bond.)

Comments

I see no reason why Mr. Cheney's behavior, while rude, should be considered illegal. The Senate was not in session.

However, it is a sad commentary on the state of political dialogue in this country: the vice-President telling a Senator, in public, to go fuck himself is ... outrageous. The fact that various Republican Senators are standing up for him while blaming Democrats for the disintegration of Sentorial comity borders on the bizarre.

I really don't care whose fault it is; I want them to fix it. :(

—— aphrael, 11:03 AM, Friday, June 25, 2004

It’s not the specific conduct, but the “an executive branch official and therefore free to use whatever language he likes” I was taking issue with. (I was kidding. Sort of.)

As I understand it, it’s the Democrats’ narrow-minded partisanship that’s making the Republicans so uncivil, and therefore the uncivil climate is the Democrats’ fault. Isn’t that the official line?

—— David Moles, 11:59 AM, Friday, June 25, 2004

I've always loved the euphemism "frank exchange of views," and this article provides a great example of its use.

(I think what I like about the phrase is that it can cover such a wide range of possibilities, from something like Cheney's expletive here to, say, nuking a city from orbit.)

—— Jed, 12:01 PM, Friday, June 25, 2004

The Senate? Bunch of fuckaninnies.

—— Nick Mamatas, 5:10 PM, Friday, June 25, 2004