Power Grab

Let us not forget that certain Republicans in Congress aided and abbetted this White House at every power-grabbing turn.

There are some Democrats who were not much better in representing the people of a Democracy.

Let us please not get sucked into false dichotomies at every turn. Surely, if we have learned nothing else, these last five or so , it is the lie of false dichotomies.

The list is endless, but here are a few:

You are either with us or against us.

Quagmire or Saddam still in power.

Abu Ghraib, Haditha and other sites of American atrocities are bad, but Saddam was worse. (We Americans just can't tell you, Mr. President, how much we love having to compare ourselves to Saddam to come out a winner; it is even worse, when we come up short.)

I had a choice. I could either protect Amurkins or I could trust the word of a dictator. (Poppy-cock! The UN inspectors were in Iraq and had to leave to keep from getting their asses blown off, by the speaker of the above statement, GW Bush)

You either agree publically with the Bush administratiion, or you are giving aid and comfort to the enemy, whomever that is today.

and the ultimate false choice; you can either be secure or free

The New York Review of Books: Power Grab:

"During the presidency of George W. Bush, the White House has made an unprecedented reach for power. It has systematically attempted to defy, control, or threaten the institutions that could challenge it: Congress, the courts, and the press. It has attempted to upset the balance of power among the three branches of government provided for in the Constitution; but its most aggressive and consistent assaults have been against the legislative branch: Bush has time and again said that he feels free to carry out a law as he sees fit, not as Congress wrote it. Through secrecy and contemptuous treatment of Congress, the Bush White House has made the executive branch less accountable than at any time in modern American history. And because of the complaisance of Congress, it has largely succeeded in its efforts."