Common Sense

As mentioned yesterday, the American Bar Association has some problems with President Bush and his signing statements.

WASHINGTON — President Bush has vetoed only one piece of legislation during more than five years in office, but he has issued more than 800 challenges to bills that he has signed into law with formal “signing statements,” more than all of his predecessors combined.

Now, however, a task force of the American Bar Association has concluded that the president’s unprecedented stream of signing statements poses a dangerous challenge to the constitutional checks and balances central to power in the United States. One of the signing statements reserves the right to torture detainees held in the war on terror.

I reserve the right to park in handicapped spaces. See, if we reserve the right, it doesn’t matter how illegal it is. It all makes sense.

“The president does not, and the administration does not, refuse to carry out the laws that have been passed by Congress and signed into law by the president,” said White House press secretary Tony Snow, maintaining that Bush is not engaging in any “civil disobedience.”

He just says he’s going to refuse to carry out parts of the law making this all a semantic argument. Anti-semantic bastards.

The president of the ABA says these signing statements are a concern for the “survival of democracy.” The president says “Tacos rule!” There must be a middle ground.