Bush on the Constitution: 'It's just a goddamned piece of paper'

[BlueBimmer]

Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act.

Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal.

GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”

“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”

“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.”

And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the **** that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that “goddamned piece of paper” used to guarantee.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while still White House counsel, wrote that the “Constitution is an outdated document.”

Put aside, for a moment, political affiliation or personal beliefs. It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent. It doesn’t matter if you support the invasion or Iraq or not. Despite our differences, the Constitution has stood for two centuries as the defining document of our government, the final source to determine – in the end – if something is legal or right.

Every federal official – including the President – who takes an oath of office swears to “uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says he cringes when someone calls the Constitution a “living document.”

“"Oh, how I hate the phrase we have—a 'living document,’” Scalia says. “We now have a Constitution that means whatever we want it to mean. The Constitution is not a living organism, for Pete's sake.”

As a judge, Scalia says, “I don't have to prove that the Constitution is perfect; I just have to prove that it's better than anything else.”

President Bush has proposed seven amendments to the Constitution over the last five years, including a controversial amendment to define marriage as a “union between a man and woman.” Members of Congress have proposed some 11,000 amendments over the last decade, ranging from repeal of the right to bear arms to a Constitutional ban on abortion.

Scalia says the danger of tinkering with the Constitution comes from a loss of rights.

“We can take away rights just as we can grant new ones,” Scalia warns. “Don't think that it's a one-way street.”

And don’t buy the White House hype that the USA Patriot Act is a necessary tool to fight terrorism. It is a dangerous law that infringes on the rights of every American citizen and, as one brave aide told President Bush, something that undermines the Constitution of the United States.

But why should Bush care? After all, the Constitution is just “a goddamned piece of paper.”

[number001]

It doesn't seem like George W. Bush to use God's name in vain like that. He's really a deeply religious man who would really stand for his faith.

Justice Antonin Scalia belongs to the conservative school of thought that favors interpreting the law based on the circumstances the author may have faced at the time that law was written. So his response above doesnt come as a surprise.

[Karding]

havent heard it from any TV news, especially from NBC, BBC, CNN

on the lighter side of the news, search jenna bush in google image

[EL Chicane]

Well, it's true, it's just a goddam piece of paper really. Bush was being literal.

[creepy]

Na-report na ba iyan sa FOX News??? Kung hindi ... hindi iyan totoo. FOX News lang naman ang parating hindi nagsisinungaling (lalo na sa mga redneck rightwing nuts...)

Hindi ako naniniwala na totoo iyan. Sobrang mabuting tao si Bush.




MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[empy]

di ko rin mahanap yung source...san mo ba nakuha yan BB?

with all the craziness on the web, i normally like to cross-reference articles or news stories to see if it came from a reputable source. a google search only revealed the same article posted on some really radical left-wing sites, with no source or author named.

[BlueBimmer]

here

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artma...cle_7779.shtml

[empy]

yikes...yun na nga yung nakita ko

"because nobody's life, liberty or property are safe while Congress is in session or the White House is occupied" :bwahaha:

anarchist yata to pre. definitely not a credible news source in my book ;)

[BlueBimmer]

yikes...yun na nga yung nakita ko

"because nobody's life, liberty or property are safe while Congress is in session or the White House is occupied" :bwahaha:

anarchist yata to pre. definitely not a credible news source in my book

hehe eye catching kasi

[cutedoc]

the fckin people created that gooddamn piece of crap that we should follow, its the norm of the society until however amended or change...

on the lighter side, a fren told me that who need to wed when you can live in together its just a piece of paper you sign...in my case i would want that gooddammned piece of paper... i didnt curse go here=)

[van_wilder]

what george bush meant was for the people to look at the bigger picture... and do what is right for the current situation and not what is on the paper... one example is hurricane katrina, most feds dont want to act since people could sue them unless all papers are signed... ayun namatay yun mga tao...

[oldblue]

hindi naman siguro dapat i-conclude na piece of paper lang ang constitution kahit na ano pa man country. pinaghirapan yan isulat at i-compile ng mga nakakatanda dala na din ng mga kamalian at experiences nila in the past, para hindi na maulit ulit.

for example, how would you feel kung hanggang ngaun eh may C.R. for coloreds, for asians, and for whites only or bawal ang black people mag-kolehiyo or ang mga asian eh hanggang dishwashing lang ang pinakamataas na trabaho na puwede ma-achieve?

be thankful for it. if G.W. Bush really said it, then it reveals something about him that we, the people of this planet, ought to be scared of. ayoko na mag-elaborate, pero it's disturbing, if this is true ....

siguro na-demoralize lang si Bush kasi yun opposition policitians, lawyers, terrorists, negative media or people like Michael Moore eh ginagamit as shield or opportunity yun constitution to pursue their vested interests. yan ang mahirap talaga sa pagiging isang leader.