[galt-jw]

power to the people, right on!

[smith288]

For beginners, Mr Fein, there is the Energy stuff that dems seem to think is public domain when its a group of experts in the field of energy counseling the president. The president doesnt have to give those papers up. Lil Dasshole thinks so though.

[Scholastic]

Bush scares me.

[johniegrad]

I prefer the overt statements about his intentions in regards to the power of the Executive Branch. This contrasts with the "get away with what you can" approach we've seen previously. If the cards are out on the table about the intentions of the president, then opponents can use the options available to them to challenge that consolidation of power. This is an above board approach regardless of how much or how little power you believe any individual branch should have.

[freeeee]

Article II of the Constitution enumerates the limited powers of an executive branch that are to be tempered by checks and balances of the two other braches of government. This was done in direct response to the abuses from a highly powered executive - namely King George II.

It is an absurd assertion that the powers of the executive office have been diminished over the last 30 years. They have grown at every turn. Indeed, the executive now acts as a legislature, passing laws by executive order, and waging wars absent a legislative declaration.

Since our President is so enamoured with such a strong exective branch more resembling the powers of a monarchy, perhaps it is time to begin referring to him as King George III.

[gubamyster]

Bush can start to beef up the Presidency with recession nominations. He can begin w/ Estrada & if he really wants to show how tough he is, appoint Pickering (who is still eligible because he never came up for a vote). Now that would show how much beef he has.

[Recovering_Democrat]

WITH the exception of Ronald Reagan's presidency, the Executive branch's influence has been continuously on the wane ever since Watergate. Nixon's mishandling and paranoia essentially gave more power to the press and the Congress--power the forefathers never intended. Every president since has looked anemic. They're almost "junior" partners, not co-equals to the Congress and press.

"Executive Privilege" was abused by Nixon and Clinton, and threw more fuel onto the anti-Presidential fire. So what do we get when Bush asserts his rightful authority? We get a whiny press and Congress, blasting him for not "getting along" with everyone. Congress and the press seem to think they alone are the determining factors of fairness and legitimacy. Trouble for them is this: the Constitution calls for three equal branches of Federal government.

I appreciate Bush standing strong for an Executive Branch not subject to the whims of the New York Times or a complaining Congress.

[BeAChooser]

Mark Racicot, appointed by Bush to be chairman of the Republican National Committee, said the time has come for the president to reclaim lost authority

And would that include Bush upholding his oath of office and FAITHFULLY EXECUTING THE LAWS of this land where the democRAT criminals of the last 9 years are concerned? THAT is the part of the Presidency that Bush needs to attend to ... after 9 years of the Clinton's using the office to subvert the Constitution and our laws. And frankly, I'll believe what the RNC has to say the day they publicize the Riady non-refund, a blockbluster which they never even bothered to mention on their website or announcements. Why would the RNC ignore something that significant?

[fogarty]

Ari Fleischer, the president's press secretary, said presidential powers have been diminished "in multiple ways" as part of a "long-standing, gradual process."

What is he smoking? Does Bush actually think the power of the presidency (and likewise its meddling in citizen's inherent freedoms) has diminished in the past decade?

Be forewarned. Every single power, every single advance that this Republican president pushes for will be used down the line to put American citizens in chains. President Bush may not put the final nail in the coffin of the US Constitution; but he is doing his best at getting out the hammer and the nails.

[marron]

The key to a robust presidency is a Republican majority in the Senate and the House.

A few more media outlets in conservative and libertarian hands would be nice, too.

[A.J.Armitage]

Bush says the inherent powers of the presidency have eroded to an unsettling degree over the past 30 years and he is moving to reclaim the lost prerogatives of the nation's highest office.

Bush is either insane or a liar. Every addition to the federal bureaucracy makes the executive stronger. Most legislation never crosses the legislative branch; most laws are imposed as "regulations". Except for a few minor "oversight" functions, Congress has gained nothing over the executive in living memory.

Now here's an interesting point: it has to be like that if power is centralized. It means there are more federal laws. Congress can only pass so many, since the whole House and whole Senate has to pass every new law. But the executive can delegate each policy area to a different department to write the regulations for that area. The sheer volumn forces a shift to the executive. The president really isn't that powerful; there's no way he or anyone can really keep track of all of it. That's very dangerous. Power in America has always been divided and spread around, but before it was by the federal system and checks and balances, which kept people accountable. Now it's spread throughout a bureaucracy and no one's accountable.

[Tauzero]

"The president has little say in how the nation's budget is devised and constraints exist over how he uses the military.

Congress also has placed restrictions on the president in military matters with the War Powers Resolution of 1973, Fleischer said."

Aww, da poor wittuw pwesident.

[mrsmith]

""He (Bush) hasn't pointed to a single case," Fein said. "I've been around this town a long time, almost 30 years, and I've never encountered one individual who told me he's not going to the Oval Office unless he's promised confidentiality. It's the biggest hoax in the world. Why he's making up all this stuff is utterly and completely baffling." "

'"It is essential for the public interest that I should receive all the information possible respecting either matters or persons connected with the public. To induce people to give this information, they must feel assured that when deposited with me it is secret and sacred. Honest men might justifiably withhold information, if they expected the communication would be made public, and commit them to war with their neighbors and friends. "
Thomas Jefferson to John Smith, 1807

George Washington: "the Executive ought to communicate such papers as the public good would permit, and ought to refuse those, the disclosure of which would injure the public "

'...then Representative James Madison, proclaimed on the House floor "that the Executive had a right, under a due responsibility, also, to withhold information, when of a nature that did not permit a disclosure of it at the time.... If the Executive conceived that, in relation to his own department, papers could not be safely communicated, he might, on that ground refuse them, because he was the competent though responsible judge within his own department." '

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

Fein said that while it's appropriate to cite national security at times, it's ridiculous to claim that anyone will be inhibited by his or her communications with the president if the information is made public.

Bill Clinton.. sleeezy phone sex,subject to blackmail, perjury...HELLO!