BILL KRISTOL IN WASHINGTON POST...

Doesn't that sick motherfucker have his own magazine in which to foist his propaganda on America? Why does he have to write to the Washington Post to get his sycophantic ideas out there? Oh right, because the Weekly Standard is a money-losing proposition with a low circulation even for a political opinion magazine...

And why would the Washington Post publish such claptrap? I mean, Kristol and his co-writer make assertions that they wish were true (for Bush and no other future president) such as:

It is not easy because the Founders intended the executive to have -- believed the executive needed to have -- some powers in the national security area that were extralegal but constitutional.

Say what? They just make this extraordinary statement as though it is common knowledge, as if it's an idea as unremarkable as the air we breathe. They don't quote any experts, and they don't cite any part of the Constitution that might shed some light on their point. They don't quote anything from any Founder's writings or statements.

And they don't do any of that because they can't. Because there is no part of the Constitution that comes anywhere near to saying that. In fact, it says the opposite, that power not expressly granted to the federal government should rest with the states or with the people (10th Amendment).

Then there's this gem:

Following that logic, the Supreme Court has never ruled that the president does not ultimately have the authority to collect foreign intelligence -- here and abroad -- as he sees fit. Even as federal courts have sought to balance Fourth Amendment rights with security imperatives, they have upheld a president's "inherent authority" under the Constitution to acquire necessary intelligence for national security purposes.

Again, not even a cursory citation of any of the Supreme Court or federal rulings to which they might be referring--again, probably because they don't exist or because they are gravely and intentionally misconstruing such rulings. If you can "follow" their faulty "logic" (already built on a house of cards in a windstorm from their previous assertion highlighted here), you could also easily assert that the Supreme Court has never ruled that the president DOES ultimately have the authority to collect foreign intelligence "as he sees fit" and blah, blah, blah...

In fact, we can easily assume such Supreme and federal court rulings don't exist because the FISA law is still intact, and it requires a warrant (either before or after surveillance is conducted). If the Supreme Court had ruled as Kristol means to suggest, FISA would have been struck down.

And then finally, an oppositism in closing:

This is not an argument for an unfettered executive prerogative. Under our system of separated powers, Congress has the right and the ability to judge whether President Bush has in fact used his executive discretion soundly, and to hold him responsible if he hasn't. But to engage in demagogic rhetoric about "imperial" presidents and "monarchic" pretensions, with no evidence that the president has abused his discretion, is foolish and irresponsible.

Since it's Bill Kristol, the Lord of the Neocons, saying that he's not arguing for "unfettered executive prerogative" that means that's exactly what he's arguing for--remember, most Republicans and all neocons are oppositists. And as for evidence that Bush abused his discretion--he's admitted multiple times on national television that he ordered multiple instances of warrantless wiretapping. That's evidence enough for me...

Oh and two more things: 1)If you read the Kristol piece, he of course brings up the "times of war" canard to justify everything he's saying, and 2) Marty Kaplan wrote a much more insightful and consequential piece about this at the Huffington Post.