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Shakespeare Didn’t Like Lying Either
by James Glaser
"You told a lie, an odious, damned lie; William Shakespeare couldn't stomach lying, and you and I shouldn't have to either. Lying might not be listed as a "High Crime or Misdemeanor" in the Constitutional sense for impeaching a President, but in my book it removes all trust in what ever George Bush has to say from now on. This lying is all very clear and easy to understand: George Bush April 19th, 2004 "For years, law enforcement used so called roving wire taps to investigate organized crime. You see, what that meant is if you got a wire tap by court order, and by the way, everything you hear about requires court order, requires there to be permission from a FISA court, for example." George Bush April 20th, 2004 "Now by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires----a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so." George Bush June 9th, 2005 "These wiretaps must be approved by a judge, and they have been used for years to catch drug dealers and other criminals." George Bush July 20th, 2005 "The Patriot Act helps us defeat our enemies while safeguarding civil liberties for all Americans. The judicial branch has a strong oversight role in the application of the Patriot Act. Law enforcement officers need a federal judge's permission to wiretap a foreign terrorist's phone, or to track his calls, or search his property. Officers must meet strict standards to use any of the tools we're talking about. And they are fully consistent with the Constitution of the United States." These four quotes from President Bush (and there are many others) tell us that he was trying to convince the American people that everything his administration was doing with wire taps was above board, and that they were following the letter of the law by seeking permission for those taps from a court of law. Now read this from the December 17th, 2005 edition of the Washington Post: "President Bush today admitted he ordered National Security wiretaps without a warrant more than 30 times since 2001. He says he has the power to do it." Maybe George Bush does have the power to do warrantless wire taps and maybe he doesn't, but for sure President George Bush does not have the right to repeatedly and willfully lie to the American people. Time after time the President of the United States went before the citizens of this country and knowlying lied to them. The reason this lie became public, is that some administration official leaked the lie to the New York Times. The Times printed a report about these wire taps without court order, and President Bush blamed the "leaker" for his being caught in this lie. George Bush sounded like a small child who tries to push the blame for a transgression off on a sibling. The American people have the right to expect that their President will be honest with them and if he is doing something that he feels is his right he will either tell us or if it is a matter of national security, he will keep quiet about it, but to constantly lie about what he is doing, becomes in my mind a High Crime. One lie is a mistake. A repeated lie is a pattern of deception that should never happen in our democracy. What can George Bush say now... that is not suspect? |
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