GOP Decides Democracy Best as a 'Symbol'

RawStory points to a registration restricted article in Congressional Quarterly's Congress Today.

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is preparing for another showdown with the White House, this time over President Bush's use of "signing statements" to challenge provisions he finds objectionable in bills he signs into law.

But opposition from other Republicans means that Arlen Specter will have a difficult time making legislative headway in his latest move to counter executive powers assumed by the Bush White House.

The Republican Leadership have decided not to support any limits on Signing Statements. That is to say that Congressional Republicans are OK with President Bush taking away their Constitutionally granted powers.

Democracy is now nothing more than a facade on a low-grade dictatorship.

Alarmist, you say? I think not. If congress can pass a law forbidding torture and the President can write a note as he signs it say "except when I say it's ok" Rule of Law is gone. Checks and balances fail when one branch can unilaterally decide to ignore the other two.

Say there's a horrific terrorist attack a three days before the 2008 elections. President Bush cancels the elections, saying they'll be held 'when the security situation permits.' Two months pass. Congress writes a law saying that 'Postponed elections must be held within 4 calendar months of the originally scheduled date.' Bush issues a signing statement outlining his objections.

'The Executive Branch holds all power to protect the citizens of America and will ignore any part of this new bill should the safety of Americans be threatened.'

Then what? Seriously. THEN WHAT?

Democracy Republicans Signing Statements

Veni, Vidi, Veto

The Washington Post reports that the Stem Cell bill has passed.

The Senate voted to lift restrictions on federally funded human embryonic stem cell research yesterday, setting the table for President Bush's first veto and producing an emotional campaign issue that Democrats believe will help them this fall.

Senators voted 63 to 37 to approve a House-passed bill that would pour millions of dollars into a field of medical research that is promising -- but also controversial because it requires destroying human embryos to extract the cells. Bush announced in his first nationally televised address, on Aug. 9, 2001, that he would ban government funding for research using embryonic stem cell colonies created after that date, and he has vowed to cast his first presidential veto to block the legislation rescinding his executive order.

Since the MSM is only reporting that Bush is vetoing the bill because he "opposes anything that destroys a human life" (in places other than Iraq) let's examine the real reasons a Stem Cell bill will draw Bush's first Veto:

First, the easy answer. He's so beholden to the Christianists that he doesn't dare piss them off now. His 36% approval rating could drop significantly. Far-Right Christian Fundamentalists make up a large part of that 36% and angering them would make President Bush nearly irrelevant.

Second answer: It provides a campaign issue for Republicans. "Without your vote to put more Christianists-Republicans in congress, Stem Cells will cover the land and take away your Bibles."

Real answer: Writing a signing statement that says he will ignore this bill looks far to ridiculous, even for the Bush Administration.

When Bush signed the Anti-Torture bill, he wrote a signing statement that said he could at times ignore any part of the bill when fulfilling his duties as Commander in Chief. When Congress passed a bill requiring judicial oversight of any spying conducted by the United States, the signing statement said that he could ignore this requirement when he felt it benefited national security to do so.

Writing a signing statement saying that he won't actually provide the money for Stem Cell Research because he's morally opposed to it would draw a little to much attention to the fact that for the last six years, he hasn't bothered to veto anything because he would just ignore laws he didn't like. Hence his first veto.

George W. Bush Stem Cells Signing Statements Veto